Markets have a muted closing

The markets did not make any headway in this trading session. In what was almost a mirror image of the previous day’s proceedings, the markets traded in a narrow range of about 100 points before ending with marginal losses. The BSE benchmark ended at     18221, higher by 16 points and the Nifty crossed the psychological 5,500 mark to register an intra-day high of  5510 at the onset of the trading session before shutting shop at 5479, up six points. And true to their recent out-performance, the midcap index ended at 7859, higher by 78 points and the smallcap index ended at 9912, up 92 points.

There were no triggers from the global front either. The Dow added 50 points to 10,320 and Nasdaq gained 23 points at 2,200 overnight as investors awaited the August US employment report for clues on the recovery outlook. Asian markets had a decent day, adding anywhere between half and two percent at close as investors took heart from improving US housing and jobs data amid lingering worries over the pace of the global economic recovery. And the European markets were cautiously optimistic ahead of the US data scheduled later in the day.

Meanwhile, the food and fuel inflation accelerated in the third week of August, maintaining pressure on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to tighten monetary policy. The food price index, which has a weightage of over 15% in the wholesale price index, rose by an annual 10.86% in the week to August 21, more than its 10.05% rise in the previous week. The fuel price index rose from 12.57% to 12.71% and the primary articles index rose from 14.75% to 15.19% during the period.

The metal space saw profit-booking after recent gains. Jindal Steel weakened by 2.1% at Rs 683 to emerge as the top loser on the BSE. Hindalco shed 1.4% at Rs 170, Sterlite lost 1.2% at Rs 158 and Tata Steel lost 0.6% at Rs 539. And there seemed to be no end to RIL’s woes. Just when the worst seemed over, with the 3% bounce-back of Wednesday, the index heavyweight shed another 1.2% at Rs 925.

On the other hand, Hero Honda gained 2.1% at Rs 1736, Bharti Airtel added 1.6% at Rs 339 and Reliance Infra was up 1.6% at Rs 1030. ONGC, Hindustan Unilever and Infosys were the other significant gainers.  In the midcap space, KEC International soared by 14.2% at Rs 524, Nirma gained 10.4% at Rs 229 and MVL jumped by 9.9% at Rs 88. And Escorts, MRF and BEML added between 6% and 8% each. The smallcap space saw the likes of Oscar Investments locked at the upper circuit of 20% at Rs 544, Vesuvius India zooming by 14.5% at Rs 316 and Goodyear adding 12.3% at Rs 285.

The market breadth was mildly positive. Out of 3050 stocks traded on the BSE, there were 1449 advancing stocks as against 1389 declines.