Markets in consolidation mode; Sensex down 58 points

Markets seemed to be in consolidation mode after strong rally as the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex and CNX Nifty declined 58.33 points and 23.30 points, respectively during the truncated week as operators decided to play safe after the Reserve Bank kept key interest rates unchanged.
Realty, metal, banking, power, capital goods and FMCG sectors attracted profit-booking and mainly weighed on Sensex.
However, buying was seen prominently in defensive IT and pharma stocks. Shares of IT majors TCS, Infosys and Wipro notched up 3.5-5.0 per cent gains, tracking weakness in rupee against the US dollar and strong American economic data that boosts prospects of their biggest market.

RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, in monetary policy meet on Tuesday, kept the key rates unchanged for the fourth consecutive time, citing continued risks to inflation and difficult external situation.
The short-term lending rate remained at eight per cent, and the cash reserve requirement of banks at four per cent. The statutory liquidity ratio has also been retained at 22 per cent.
Brokers said local bourses were also impacted by weak trend on Asian bourses amid concern over tensions in Hong Kong and as Chinese manufacturing gauge missing estimates.

The BSE 30-share barometer resumed lower and moved in a range of 26,851.33 and 26,481.31 before concluding the week at 26,567.99, a net fall of 58.33 points or 0.22 per cent.

Last week, it had plunged by 464.10 points, or 1.71 per cent.
Similarly, the broad-based 50-issue CNX Nifty of the NSE also declined by 23.30 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 7,945.55.