Sensex down 19 pts on weak global cues, inflation worries

Before settling the day at at 16,894.25, lower by a mere 18.52 points or 0.11 per cent over its last close, the 30- share barometer saw volatile movements throughout the day in alternate bouts of selling and buying.
The 50-Share Nifty on the National Stock Exchange also ended almost flat at 5,041.75 from 5,042.05 yesterday.
Brokers said trading was lacklustre in the absence of institutional activity. Some buying support from retail investors helped the small cap and mid cap segments to outperform the Sensex.
Mid-cap index closed up by 1.09 per cent, small cap gained 0.88 per cent.

World stocks displayed a feeble trend after the US Federal Reserve at the end of a two-day policy meeting Wednesday detailed its plans to remove excess liquidity from the financial system though it decided to continue with the all-time interest rates.
Barring Taiwan, which ended in the green, other Asian markets like China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and South Korea closed in the red in the range of 1-2 per cent.

European indices too exhibited a weak trend in their morning deals. The CAC was down by 0.47 per cent, FTSE by 0.45 per cent and the DAX by 0.36 per cent.

Food inflation touched more than a decade's high of 19.95 per cent as of December 5, which further mounted fears that Reserve Bank would signal a hike in interest rates.
Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services Head Research Alex Mathew said, "Weak global markets are inflationary pressures are keeping the fear alive in the market."
Rate hike worries in the wake of surging inflation have kept the market uncertain in the past one week.
Following Fed's outlook for the world's largest economy, dollar soared against its major rivals, including currencies in Asia. Brokers said dollar gaining could mean investors shifting their money to the US currency from equities in the developing countries.
"Institutional investors are booking profits as it is the year-end nad they will have to close their books," said Mathew.
However, stronger dollar saw IT stocks on domestic bourses remaining in keen demand. IT companies stand to gain as appreciating US currency would improve their balance sheets of outsourcing business and software exports. TCS posted a notable gain of  1.29 per cent.

Realty counters attracted profit-booking. Oil &gas and consumer goods indices also slipped.
Among the Sensex stocks, DLF dropped by 3.70 per cent, L&T by 1.33 per cent, RIL by 1.23 per cent, HDFC Bank by 1.16 per cent and Maruti Suzuki by 1.16 per cent.

Market breadth, however, remained positive with 1,628 gainers against 1,173 that lost ground on the BSE, reflecting gains in second-line stocks.
Trading volume was relatively high at Rs 4,517.99 crore from Rs 4,277.07 crore on Wednesday. SBI topped the list of highest traded secureities with a turnover of Rs 197.84 crore.

Meanwhile, the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange today postponed till January 4, 2010, the advancement of market opening time to 9 am.