Sensex ends marginally higher at 15,117; Inflation at 12.01%

Sensex ends marginally higher at 15,117
Stocks end flat after choppy session
Markets rangebound; Sterlite, HDFC gain
Markets choppy; Nifty holds 4500

Stocks ended with modest gains on Thursday, marked by alternate bouts of profit booking and buying across the sectors. Investors traded with caution ahead of inflation data, expected after market hours. India’s annual inflation is seen at 12.02 per cent in the week ended July 26, marginally higher than the previous week's 11.98 per cent.

Unsupportive global cues saw the market start off on a negative note. But the indices picked up steam later on gains in the consumer durables space which drove the sectoral index up 2.86 per cent. It was the biggest sectoral gainer. However, profit booking in capital goods and power stocks capped the upside.

Meanwhile, crude oil traded above $119 a barrel after dipping to three-month low to under $118 the previous day, which added to the jittery sentiment. “For the first time in six months, domestic institutional investors offloaded Rs 804.36 crore in the cash segment on Wednesday. The sharp sell-off by DIIs suggested the lack of confidence in the market. We expect a short term reversal in trend on the downside from the high of 4615 seen on Wednesday.As for today, the market is expecting an adverse number on the inflation front, which led to the downside, especially after 2 pm,” said Satish Kannav, technical analyst at Arihant Capital.

Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex settled at 15,117.25, up 0.29 per cent or 43.71 points after swinging between a high of 15,280.06 and low of 14,992.97 during the day. National Stock Exchange's Nifty ended 0.14 per cent, or just 6.3 points, higher at 4523.85. The index oscillated between 4580.15 and 4493.70.

Second rung stocks outperformed the benchmarks. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were up 0.45 per cent and 0.32 per cent respectively. Among frontline stocks, Sterlite Industries (4.43%), Tata Motors (4.1%), HDFC (3.37%), HDFC Bank (3.03%) and Grasim Industries (2.49%) chalked up decent gains. BHEL (-2.88%), Bharti Airtel (-2.25%), Reliance Communications (-1.78%), Ranbaxy Laboratories (-1.68%) and Hindustan Unilever (1.47%) were the losers in the 30-share index. Market breadth on BSE showed 1,406 advances and 1,284 declines.

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Source:ET