Sensex snaps four-day rally; sheds 26 pts in lacklustre trade

After trading in a narrow range through the day, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex settled at 19,966.93, shedding 25.77 points or 0.13 per cent from the previous close.
Similarly, the National Stock Exchange's wide-based Nifty declined by 18.90 points to close at 5,992.80.Analysts said cautious investors booked profits after SEBI's yesterday decision to bar Ackruti City, Welspun Corp, Brushman India and Murli Industries and their promoters from trading on the bourses.

"Sentiment of Investors and brokers, who were riding high on strong economic growth numbers and easing food inflation, got hit after the SEBI's order on rumours of similar rulings on other big companies, said CNI Research CMD Kishore Ostwal.

Major show spoilers on the street were banking and realty counters, which erased previous session's gains as investors locked profits.Mortgage lender HDFC , which lost 0.85 per cent, was primarily responsible for offsetting the overall Sensex gains. Besides, SBI and ICICI Bank also slumped by 0.85 per cent and 0.69 per cent respectively.

Among the realty majors, DLF and JP Associates saw a dip of 4.53 per cent and 4.27 per cent respectively. Anil Ambani led Reliance Infrastructure also tanked by 4.29 per cent.
Broader market had to also bear the brunt of meltdown in metal counters including the copper producer Sterlite Industries and the aluminium producer Hindalco, which tumbled by 2.39 per cent and 1.33 per cent respectively.

Tata Steel saw a decline of 1.28 per cent, but Jindal Steel bucked the trend and surged by 1.53 per cent."Today’s marginal fall in the key stock indices was seen despite an extended rally in the US and other world markets. Better than expected US economic statistics coupled with the ECB's decision to extend liquidity support measures to banks underpinned the positive sentiment across risky asset classes," IIFL Head of Research Amar Ambani said.

IT counters came to the rescue of the market with the bellwether Infosys Technologies, which carries maximum weight on the key index after Reliance Industries, advancing by 0.89 per cent. Among the other major gainers in the sector were -- Wipro (0.68 per cent) and TCS (0.33 per cent).

Meanwhile, the tobacco giant ITC, which dropped by nearly four per cent in the morning on the news of halting the cigarette production in all the units, later recovered and settled with a gain of 0.41 per cent.Thirteen of the 30-Sensex components managed to end in the positive terrain, with Hero Honda stealing the show. The counter rose by 2.47 per cent, while its peer Mahindra & Mahindra gained 1.19 per cent.

Heavy-weights ONGC and Larsen & Toubro also surged by 0.54 per cent and 0.45 per cent amid a volatile broader market.Global and domestic markets would now closely look at the monthly US jobs data that will be released today. Asian markets ended mixed with Shanghai shedding 0.04 per cent, and Nikkei gaining 0.10 per cent. European markets, however, were trading firm in the afternoon session.