Sensex ends flat as investors turn cautious

Markets ended flat amid a volatile trading session paring gains in late trades as investors turned cautious after foreign institutional investors emerged as net sellers in equities, a day earlier.
 
Benchmark indices closed on a weak note for a third consecutive day with benchmark Nifty closing below the psychological level of 6,000, signaling a weak trend going ahead.
 
The 30-share Sensex closed at 20,217 down almost 12 points or 0.06% and the 50-share Nifty index closed almost 4 points lower at 5,995 levels.

According to provisional data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turned net sellers of Indian shares worth Rs 59.80 crore on Thursday, 21 November 2013, breaking a 32-day buying spree.
 
Broader markets too remained flat with a negative bias as BSE mid-caps and small-caps closed lower by 0.05-0.1%.
 
"As per the charts, markets found difficulty to breach the level of 6210 levels which was the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement levels of recent downside from 6340 to 5970 levels. It corrected sharply and entered in its earlier support zone of 5980-6070 levels," says Mudit Goyal, Technical analyst at SMC Global.
 
The rupee recovered to 62.94 on reports that the government is preparing to lobby major trading partners including Japan, Iraq and Venezuela to accept rupee payments for some of their exports, one of a series of moves to stabilise the volatile currency and make it more globally acceptable
 
The partially convertible rupee earlier breached Rs 63.01 per dollar mark due to dollar buying by importers.
 
Asian markets finished mixed as of the most recent closing prices. The Hang Seng gained 0.49% and the Nikkei 225 rose 0.10%. The Shanghai Composite lost 0.43%.
 
On the global front, Japanese stocks scaled six-month peaks on Friday as the yen took a spill, while other Asian markets lagged as investors resigned themselves to an inevitable slowdown in U.S. stimulus.
 
Tokyo's Nikkei rallied more than 1 percent but succumbed to profit-taking late in the session to finish 0.1 percent higher. Still, it is up nearly 10 percent over the last two weeks, setting the stage for a re-test of its 2013 peak at 15,942.
 
European markets are mixed. The CAC 40 is higher by 0.41%, while the FTSE 100 is leading the DAX lower. They are down 0.13% and 0.10% respectively.
 
Back home, capital goods, which was the top gainer on BSE sectoral indices closed 1% higher followed by Oil & gas, Capital Goods, consumer durables, PSU, Healthcare, IT and Power while Auto, Realty, FMCG and Metal were the biggest laggards with auto sector leading the fall.
 
The main gainers on the Sensex were ONGC, Tata Steel, Gail India, HDFC, L&T and Dr Reddy’s Lab while top losers were SSLT, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, ITC, Sun Pharma and SBI.
 
Market breath remained weak as 1261 stocks declined against an advance seen in 1169.
 
Other Stocks

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) closed at Rs 279.25, down 3.3% after the company said its wholly owned subsidiary ONGC Videsh has signed a memorandum of understanding with PetroVietnam (PVN) to promote the joint cooperation in hydrocarbon sector in Vietnam, India and other countries.

Fiem Industries rallied 18.8% to Rs 268.80, extending its past one week 17% rally, after reporting a strong 45% year on year (yoy) jump in net profit at Rs 9.08 for the quarter ended September 30, 2013 (Q2). The auto parts and equipment makers had profit of Rs 6.26 crore in year ago quarter.

Exide Industries closed 2.7% lower at Rs 113.50, also its 52-week low on the National Stock Exchange.

The stock opened at Rs 117 and touched high of Rs 116.70 in early morning deals on NSE.

Gujarat Gas Company closed at 286.25, down almost 5% on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) after turning ex-dividend today.

The board of directors of the company at its meeting held on November 12, 2013, had declared the payment of interim dividend of Rs 9 per equity share of Rs 2 each