Indian equity shares ended the session near flat despite posting best fiscal year gain since 2009-10 on fresh selling in banking, capital goods, IT and FMCG stocks amid firm global cues.
The 30-share BSE index Sensex ended lower by 18.37 points or 0.07 per cent at 27,957.49 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty ended down by 1.3 points or 0.02 per cent at 8,491.
SEBI's start-up IPO norms seeks to keep retail investors away. Do they want to stay away? What about liquidity if these invsts are kept out?
— lokeshwarri sk (@lokeshwarri)
March 31, 2015Among BSE sectoral indices, banking index fell the most by 0.81 per cent, followed by capital goods 0.49 per cent, IT 0.2 per cent and FMCG 0.19 per cent. On the other hand, oil & gas index was the star-performer and was up 1.18 per cent, followed by healthcare 1.03 per cent, auto 0.64 per cent and infrastructure 0.41 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were Tata Power 3.42%, GAIL 2.37%, Dr Reddy's 1.91%, Tata Motors 1.85% and Reliance 1.77%, while the major losers were ONGC 2.51%, Tata Steel 1.72%, Hindalco 1.71%, BHEL 1.53% and HDFC Bank 1.32%.
With the first quarter drawing to close, window dressing by funds can keep stks afloat today. The real test for this bounce is tomorrow.
— lokeshwarri sk (@lokeshwarri)
The benchmark BSE index has gained 25.3 per cent in 2014-15, its best since 2009-10 on bets that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government would be able to revive growth in Asia's third-largest economy.
The 50-share NSE index is headed for its worst monthly fall since August 2013 on concerns about India's stock valuations and a more gradual economic growth than anticipated earlier.
"Economic recovery has not been robust so far, so FY16 is expected to be more volatile than FY15," said Aneesh Srivastava, chief investment officer at IDBI Federal Life Insurance.
The BSE index is down 4.14 per cent this month, while the NSE index has fallen 4.04 per cent.
Losses were led by bank stocks such as ICICI Bank on anticipation of no rate cut at the central bank's upcoming policy review on April 7.
Domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 651 crore ($104.06 million) on Monday, provisional exchange data showed.
Global markets
European shares extended gains on Tuesday and headed for their best quarterly performance in several years, with Kingfisher leading the market higher after announcing it planned to sell about 60 B&Q stores in Britain.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index was up 0.3 per cent at 1,600.74 points by 0751 GMT. It rose 1.2 per cent on Monday and traded near a recent 7 1/2-year high of 1,613.80 points reached earlier in March. France's CAC was up 0.2 per cent.
Asian stocks headed for their biggest quarterly advance since 2012 and the dollar strengthened against most peers amid speculation that central bank stimulus globally will continue to support asset prices.
The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index rose 0.3 per cent by 12:27 p.m. in Tokyo, heading for a 6.6 per cent advance over the past three months.