JOIN USStocks weathered yet another choppy session to end marginally lower today as investors baulked at the prospects of higher interest rates after minutes of RBI's last policy meeting indicated a shift towards a hawkish stance in June.
However, tech shares zoomed after the country's largest software exporter TCS yesterday reported a 4.4 per cent growth in its consolidated net profit at Rs 6,904 crore for the March 2018 quarter and guided towards a better show in fiscal 2019.
The 30-share Sensex, after moving between 34,311.29 and 34,487.33, finally settled 11.71 points, or 0.03%, lower at 34,415.58.
The broader NSE Nifty closed 1.25 points, or 0.01% down at 10,564.05. Intra-day, it shuttled between 10,527.45 and 10,582.35.
Both the key indices ended higher for the fourth straight week. The Sensex rose by 222.93 points, or 0.65% while the NSE Nifty gained 83.45 points, or 0.80%, during the period.
Release of the minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting after market hours yesterday indicated that the Reserve Bank may shift to a hawkish monetary stance in June, which dented investor sentiment.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 624.99 crore on net basis, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities to the tune of Rs 448.61 crore on Thursday, as per provisional data.
Sustained capital outflows by foreign funds, profit-booking in recent gainers and surging global crude prices were major factors behind today's negative trend, brokers said.
"Market traded range-bound due to weak global cues and surge in oil price and yield while banks under-performed after RBI's hawkish view in their minutes," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.