The benchmark indices had a rather dull session in the absence of any triggers on both the domestic and global fronts.With the marginal gains in the IT and banking sectors being negated by the pressure on the auto and metal indices, the Sensex hovered around the 20k mark throughout the session before ending at 19982, lower by 32 points and the Nifty ended at 5980, down four points.
The broader markets were equally listlesss; the midcap index ended at 7608, lower by 17 points and the smallcap index ended at 9324, down 12 points.
It may be recollected that the indices had snapped a three-day winning streak in the previous session.
Meanwhile, Asia mostly ended lower, with the markets in China, Hong Kong and Indonesia dropping by upto a percent each.
Markets brushed off the modestly higher leads from Wall Street after data showed the US economy expanded faster than previously expected.
US stocks had edged higher overnight, with the Dow gaining 9.27 points to 11,542 and Nasdaq adding 1.63 points to 2,669.
The Shanghai Composite dropped 0.79% to 2,855 as the government tightened controls on foreign investment in property and a measure of lending costs between banks rose to the highest in three years and Hang Seng ended down 0.62% at 22,903.
And the European markets have started on an unenthusing note, with the DAX, CAC and FTSE hovering around the previous session's closing levels in mid-day trades.
On the macro-economic front, the food price index rose 12.13% and fuel price index climbed 10.74% in the year to December 11.
In the earlier week, annual food and fuel inflation had stood at 9.46% and 10.67%
respectively. The primary articles price index was up 15.35% in the latest week compared with an annual rise of 13.25% a week earlier.
And oil prices climbed towards a two-year high on Thursday as cold weather in the US boosted demand, slashed stockpiles and contributed to a stronger-than-expected rise in fuel consumption in 2010.
The IT and banking stocks were in the limelight in today's session. In the IT index, Infosys hardened by 0.7% at Rs 3362.
And the banking space saw the likes of HDFC Bank gaining 0.4% at Rs 2188 and SBI edging higher by 0.1% at Rs 2749.
Not to be left, the broader banking space also saw action with Oriental Bank gaining 2% at Rs 415 and Corporation adding 1.6% at Rs 655.
The metal space saw profit-taking after the upmove witnessed in the recent past. Hindalco shed 1.8% at Rs 233 and Tata Steel lost 1.6% at Rs 661.
And the auto space also moved in tandem; Tata Motors slid by 1.2% at Rs 1348, M&M lost 0.8% at Rs 751 and Maruti lost 0.4% at Rs 1392.
The market breadth was mildly negative. Out of 2988 stocks traded on the BSE, there were 1320 advancing stocks as against 1473 declines.
