Markets End on a Flat Note

Indian markets ended the day with marginal gains and closed off day’s high as sentiment turned jittery after the RBI reiterated that anti-inflationary stance would persist, even at the cost affecting growth after hiking rates by 25 bps, in line with expectation. The Sensex ended higher by 57 points at 16,934, while the Nifty advanced 9 points, at 5,084. Earlier, the markets opened on a positive note after central banks around the world pledged to pump in liquidity into the system. The Nifty touched a high of 5,143 around noon and gave up all the gains, touching a low of 5,068 after the rate hike announcement and the continued hawkish stance of the central bank. The markets recouped most of the losses, and ended the day slightly higher on concerns of more rate hikes. Going forward, markets will take cues from the development in Europe and the United States, where the Federal Reserve Meeting at end of September will be crucial. In the international markets, all the Asian indices closed in the positive territory with the exporter and financial shares leading the gains. The European markets also extended Thursday’s gains ahead of Euro-zone finance ministers meet in Poland to discuss the debt crisis. Back in India among the sectoral indices, FMCG and IT indices were the prominent losers, down nearly 1 per cent each. Profit booking was witnessed in IT shares as the Rupee recovered. The market breadth was negative as 1460 stocks declined, while 1337 stocks advanced on the BSE.