The Indian stocks ended the day on a firm note, but after witnessing some profit booking activity during the final hour and a half of trade. The BSE-Sensex closed with gains of about 40 points or 0.2%. The NSE-Nifty closed higher by about 5 points or 0.1%. Barring stocks from the realty, healthcare and information technology space, gains were seen across the board. oil and gas and metal stocks were amongst the most preferred today. The BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap indices ended the day on a weak note, with the indices closing lower by about 0.1% and 0.5% respectively.
Stock markets in other parts of Asia ended the day on a weak note with Japan and Hong Kong closing lower by about 0.2% and 1.3% respectively. The rupee was trading at Rs 60.05 to the dollar at the time of writing.
Cement stocks ended the day on a weak note with Heidelberg Cement, Prism Cement and Ultratech Cement leading the pack of losers. As per a leading business daily, the
During the month of April 2014, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) invested a sum of Rs 96 bn or US$ 1.6 bn in Indian stocks. This made April the eight consecutive month of net inflows. In the month of August 2013, FIIs has sold Rs 59.2 bn. In the year till date, FIIs have invested Rs 323.7 bn or US$ 5.3bn in Indian stocks. The bullishness seems to be on account of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections with high expectations of a particular party coming into power. With the election results to be announced in less than two weeks from now, market participants can expect a significant amount of volatility as investors who feel the positive are all priced in may be looking to exit the markets. As such, we recommend investors to take a cautious approach in the short term.
For information on how to pick stocks that have the potential to deliver big returns, download our special report now!
Read the latest Market Commentary
Equitymaster requests your view! Post a comment on "Realty, pharma not in favour today". Click here!
Comments are moderated by Equitymaster, in accordance with the Terms of Use, and may not appear
on this article until they have been reviewed and deemed appropriate for posting.
In the meantime, you may want to share this article with your friends!