Markets have a muted closing

The markets closed marginally lower, after a quiet day of trading, with the BSE benchmark index down 17 points at 19,584 and the Nifty dropped 10 points to close the day at 5,874.

In the broader markets, the smallcap index held on to its gains, closing up 0.2% while the midcap index closed flat.

The market activity was more stock specific than sector specific.

Market heavyweight Reliance Industries and Infosys were in the limelight throughout the day with their divergent movements.

Commenting on the markets Hormuz Maloo, Technical Analyst, Geojit BNP Paribas Securities says," Further upside for the market seems to be difficult.

There is strong resistance for the Nifty at around current levels, which is borne out by the technical patterns witnessed in last few days.

Earlier in the day, the markets had opened flat on the back of subdued global cues and losses posted by heavyweight Reliance Industries as fourth quarter results reported after market hours on Thursday were below expectations.

Thereon, the Sensex moved north to touch a high of 19,697, up 159 points from opening bell.

The markets did lose steam midaway through the session due to a decline in Reliance, but a resurgence in Infosys, State Bank of India and L&T balanced out most of the adverse effects of Reliance.

Moving into the last hour of trading, however, Reliance dropped further causing the Sensex to slip into the negative.

Earlier, the company announced of 14% growth in fourth quarter net profit to Rs 5,376 crore, as natural gas production from its mainstay field declined.

However, these figures were lower than the expectations on Dalal Street.

Among the sectoral indices, Consumer Durables up 0.9% lead the gains throughout the day followed by IT and Capital Goods gaining 0.8% and 0.5%

respectively.

Because of Reliance Industries' trading in the negative, the Oil & Gas index dropped by nearly 2% followed by Realty down 1%. However, Bankex and Power indices closed flat.

On the result front, India's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki reported better-than-expected net profit of Rs 660 crore for the quarter ended March 2011 over the previous year.

The growth in net profit over preceding quarter was 16.75%.

Further drug firm Strides Arcolab said its consolidated net profit rose by 4.54% to Rs 45.08 crore for the first quarter ended March 31, 2011, vis-a-vis the same period last fiscal.

Also, vacation home operator Mahindra Holidays and Resorts which operates under the flagship brand 'Club Mahindra', posted a net profit of Rs 40.17 crore for the quarter ended March, a 25% jump from the year ago.

Sterlite Industries (Rs 186) up 4% was the top gainer among the Sensex stocks.

The rally was because of the 35% jump in consolidated net profit for the quarter ended March 2011 over the previous year. Other notable gainers for the day were SBI (Rs 2919), Maruti Suzuki (Rs 1326), Infosys (Rs 2942) and L&T (Rs 1721) which gained 1% each.

Reliance (Rs 1009) down nearly 3%, DLF (Rs 241) lost 2%, Reliance Communication (Rs 104) and Jaiprakash Assocites (Rs 100) which shed 1% each were the top losers among the Sensex stocks.

The market breadth was negative.

Of the total 3,001 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,558 stocks  declined while 1,340 advanced.