Nifty ends with moderate loss amid choppy trade

Indian equity benchmarks closed with moderate losses on Wednesday amid a choppy trade. The Nifty traded in a tight range of 5970-5900 for the second consecutive session today.

Indices have not seen any major sell-off since yesterday. There was small bout of profit booking after the rally in previous few sessions. Markets probably have changed the mood at the moment from sell on the rise which has now come to buy in a decline, so that being the mood of the market very well complimented by the FIIs inflows, says Dilip Bhat, Jt MD of Prabhudas Lilladher. FIIs were net buyers to the tune of more than Rs 10,000 crore since March 22.

After looking at the consolidation, which the market has been seeing since yesterday, Bhat feels that the market seems to be heading for something like 6,250 to 6,300. "Maybe the rise has been so swift and the magnitude of the rise also has been quite big. So there could be some hiccups, there could be some corrections here and there but I think the trending could be one of upwards."

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 74.62 points or 0.38%, to close at 19,612.20 and the 50-share NSE Nifty slipped 18.30 points or 0.31%, to end at 5,891.75 despite positive global cues.

Nifty April Futures ended with 23 points premium and added 3.9% in Open Interest. Open Interest Put Call Ratio stands at 1.39 versus 1.42. Nifty 6000 Call and Nifty 5700 Put had maximum Open Interest suggesting short term range of 5700-6000 for the markets.

Technology, capital goods, telecom, private banking, healthcare and select metal companies' shares dragged the markets down. Reliance Industries and ITC too were marginally in the red.