Markets end lower on overseas fund outflows

Markets ended lower for third consecutive trading session this Friday on back of political instability back home amid caution ahead of key jobs data in US scheduled later in the day that will decide the pace of growth recovery in world’s biggest economy.

The Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share index Sensex dropped 59.47 points to end at 18,450.23 while the National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty shed 21.50 points at 5,553.25.

Foreign funds sold shares worth Rs 3.26 billion in the domestic markets onThursday, following Rs 3.68 billion selling on Wednesday, provisional exchange data shows.

Market participants are increasingly jittery over political instability at Asia’s third-biggest economy after Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) veteran LK Advani hinted at an early election on Wednesday.

Global risk appetite slightly improved after the Bank of Japan’s new governor announced unprecedented monetary easing to end two decades of economic stagnation, however, caution prevailed ahead of US non-farm payrolls data may show US employers hired a net 190,000 workers last month and the unemployment rate held at a four-year low of 7.7 percent.

Japan’s Nikkei gained 1.5% to 12,833, re-treating from day’s high of 13,225.62

Meanwhile,

Chinese markets dropped on concerns airlines may be shut, hurting exports after a new strain of bird flu hit the region.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 2.7% to 21,726.90 while South Korea’s Kospi declined 1.7% to 1,927.23 today.

Back home, the key sectoral indices such as FMCG, consumer durables, capital goods, power, banks declined while oil & gas, autos, metals and PSU sectors gained on BSE.

The laggards included counters such as ITC falling 3%, NTPC declining 2.7%, HDFC dropped 3%, SBI and ICICI Bank shed 0.7% and 1.3% respectively on BSE.

The gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki adding 7%, Jindal Steel gained 2%, GAIL rose 2.2%, while ONGC gained 2%, RIL added 1.8% while Wipro ended up nearly 1.9% on the BSE.

The notable movers included counters such as, GMR Infrastructure which gained 3% on reports that the company has reached with an agreement with Megawide Construction Corp to bid for an airport development project in the Phillipines.

Maruti Suzuk India rallied over 7% to Rs 1,405 after the Japanese yen slid to a three-and-half year low which would result in lower import costs.

The broader markets ended tad lower with mid-caps and small-caps dropping nearly 0.1% on BSE.

The market breadth was positive. Out of 2,863 stocks traded, 1,414 stocks gained compared to 1,314 declines on BSE.