Sensex logs first weekly loss after six weeks

The Bombay Stock Exchange BSE Sensex fell 0.3 per cent to log its first weekly loss in six weeks.

The Bombay Stock Exchange BSE Sensex fell 0.3 per cent on Friday to log its first weekly loss in six weeks,with investors locking in profits ahead of quarterly earnings,after rallying to a 33-month high earlier this week. Analysts said the market was showing signs of fatigue and sentiment has turned cautious. Our view is this is a traders market. There has been profit booking by long only foreign funds,given that there are fears over controls on foreign inflows, said Ambareesh Baliga,senior vice-president at Karvy Stock Broking.

But I see the markets holding on at around current levels in the immediate future. Strong growth outlook for the country and limited opportunities in the developed world has seen brisk investments by foreign funds.

Foreign institutional investors have pumped in a record 21.3 billion into equities so far this year,sending the benchmark index up 16 per cent. Nearly a third of this money has come in since the start of September.

According to the provisional figures furnished by by the BSE,FIIs bought stocks worth over Rs 580 crore. On Tuesday,a deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India said they are considering measures to deal with an influx of foreign fund flows. The 30-share BSE Sensex closed 0.32 per cent,or 65.06 points,lower at 20,250.26,on Friday,with 20 of its components declining. It had risen as much as 0.5 per cent in early trade. The benchmark,which had hit a 33-month-high on Monday,is still about 950 points away from a record high of 21,206.77 scaled in January 2008. This is a small correction,a very healthy correction. The sell-off is at desired levels, said Deven Choksey,managing director and chief executive of KR Choksey Shares. The 50-share NSE Nifty was down 0.3 per cent at 6,103.45 points.

Shares of metal firms Tata Steel,Sterlite Industries and Jindal Steel,which had rallied over the past few weeks,shed 1 per cent to 3 per cent. Auto shares were down on profit sales following a run-up,with Mahindra amp; Mahindra dropping nearly 2.7 per cent,Tata Motors declined 1.9 per cent and Hero Honda slipped 0.4 . Maruti Suzuki bucked the trend,closing 0.5 per cent higher. Mortgage lender Housing Development Finance Corp fell 1.2 per cent,while ICICI Bank,the countrys second-biggest lender,shed 0.6 per cent. Export-led outsourcers Infosys Technologies and Wipro rose around 1 per cent each. Infosys,India8217;s second-largest software services exporter,reports earnings on October 15.