Markets edge lower led by index heavyweights

Markets edged lower in afternoon session this Friday on back of profit-booking in rate-sensitive sectors and index-heavyweights after benchmark indices surged for four consecutive trading days.

Meanwhile, investors also preferred to remain on the side-lines ahead of the Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy meet next week.

At 2:30PM, the Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share index Sensex fell 146 points at 19,260.78 while the National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty declined 52 points at 5,864.

The 30-share sensitive index Sensex has risen 1,114 points in past 2 weeks while 50-share Nifty surged 365 points since April 12 on back of overseas inflows.

Foreign institutional investors net bought Rs 14.50 billion worth of shares on Thursday, provisional data from stock exchanges showed.

Global risk appetite was, however, firm on hopes major central banks will ease monetary policy further or continue to keep it loose for long.

Asian markets ended mixed with China’s Shanghai Composite Index down 1% to 2,178, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.5% to 22,547, Singapore’s Straits Times added 0.2% to 3,345 while Japan’s Nikkei was down 0.3% to 13,884.

Back home, the key sectoral indices such as IT, oil & gas, FMCG, real-estate, power and bankex declined while automobile sector gained on the BSE.

The gainers on the Sensex included, Maruti Suzuki soaring 5%, Bharti Airtel gained 4.7%, Bajaj Auto rose 3%, GAIL is up 1.5% while HDFC added 1.4% on the BSE.

The laggards included counters such as Reliance Industries declined 3%, Jindal Steel fell 2.8%, HUL shed 2.7%, TCS dropped 2.3% on the BSE.

The key notable movers included,  LIC Housing Finance has moved higher by 5% to Rs 244, bouncing back 6% from intra-day low, on reporting 24% year-on-year (yoy) growth in net profit at Rs 316 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2013 (Q4).

Maruti Suzuki India has moved higher by 5% to Rs 1,675, its highest level since October 2009, after reporting a better-than-expected 79% year-on-year (yoy) jump in net profit at Rs 1,148 crore for the quarter ended March 2013 (Q4) on back of higher sales. The net profit figures exclude the effect of the SPIL merger.

The broader markets dropped with mid-caps and small-caps falling 0.2-0.3% on the BSE.

The market breadth was negative. Out of 2,344 stocks traded, 1,276 stocks declined compared to 926 advances on BSE.