Markets hit pause, and book profits

Equities slipped for the first time in three days on Wednesday, with the BSE Sensex dropping 52 points to 28,926, hit by profit-booking in recent winners, amid mixed global cues on caution ahead of European Central Bank's (ECB)'s meet.

State Bank of India was the biggest gainer on the index, rising 2.74 per cent to Rs 266, after the state-run lender said it raised Rs 2,100 crore by allotting Basel-III-compliant perpetual bonds to YES Bank.

Power equipment maker Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited surged 15.5 per cent to Rs 159.8 after it reported a 54 per cent jump in net profit to Rs 77.8 crore for the June quarter.

Shares of Vedanta Ltd ended steady, while Cairn India settled 1.2 per cent lower at Rs 200, after shareholders of Vedanta Resources approved merger of the two group firms.

Buoyancy in currency market, where the rupee strengthened against the dollar, capped losses in broader markets.

"Market oscillated between gains and losses and ended with minor loss due to profit-booking ahead of the ECB meet on Thursday, which could provide clues on global liquidity," said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit BNP Paribas Financial.

The 30-share Sensex, which went past the 29,000 mark at the outset to touch a high of 29,067.8, saw profit- booking later and slipped to 28,911 before ending down by 51.7 points, or 0.2 per cent, at 28,926.

The index had risen 554 points in the past two sessions on bullish foreign cues after weak US jobs data dimmed hopes of an interest-rate increase by the US Federal Reserve (or US central bank) in near term.

NSE Nifty, after shuttling between 8,968.7 and 8,913, settled 25  points, or 0.3 per cent lower, at 8,917.9.