In Asia, markets in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Singapore,

South Korea and Malaysia were all closed today for the Lunar New Year. Japan market was closed for National Foundation Day. European stocks, however, were trading mixed today. The CAC and FTSE were trading better while DAX was quoting weak. Moving to the local market, 17 out of 30-share Sensex scrips declined while 13 counters finished up. Major losers from Sensex pack were Maruti Suzuki (1.64 pc), ONGC (1.61 pc), Jindal Steel (1.60 pc), Bharti Airtel (1.57 pc), HDFC (1.27 pc) and L&T (1.26 pc). However, Cipla rose by 3.62 per cent, followed by Dr Reddy's (Lab 2.45 pc), Hindalco (2.14 pc), Sterlie (2.07 pc), HUL (1.88 pc) and Tata Motors (1.77 pc). Among the sectoral indices, the BSE-Capital Goods fell by 0.81 per cent, followed by BSE-Teck (0.43 pc), BSE-IT (0.33 pc) and BSE-FMCG (0.31 pc) while BSE-Realty rose by 0.91 per cent, BSE-HC 0.74 per cent and BSE-PSU 0.47 per cent. The market breadth remained negative as 1,061 scrips ended lower while 938 stocks ended higher. 978 ruled steady. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) remained net buyers and bought shares worth a net Rs 1,490.82 crore on last Friday as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.