Mumbai: The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty closed listless trade on a flat note on Friday as the market is eagerly waiting for inflation data (that scheduled for July 16), which will decide the Reserve Bank of India's move on July 31 (a day of first quarter monetary policy review).
Analysts on average expect June inflation in the range of 7.5 per cent-7.8 per cent as against 7.55 per cent in previous month and core inflation around 4.9 per cent-5.5 per cent versus 4.8 per cent in May. Therefore they feel the RBI may not consider rate cut.
ICICI Securities said, "In a scenario where WPI inflation is expected to remain over 7.5 per cent and core inflation likely to hover around 5 per cent, it's fairly unlikely that the RBI will go for steep rate cuts in the forthcoming monetary policy reviews. This view is reinforced by the recent statements indicating that RBI continues to maintain its unflinching stand to curb inflation at the cost of 'short term' growth."
The BSE benchmark gained as much as 110 points in morning trade, but could not sustain the gains in second half of trade as traders opted to book profits ahead of weekend and inflation data. The index declined 18.85 points to close at 17,213.70 and the NSE benchmark slipped 8 points to 5,227.25.
The Indian rupee performed quite better today, appreciating by 63 paise to 55.31 against the US dollar from 55.94 a dollar in previous session.
Infosys, country's No. 2 software services exporter tanked further, losing 1.65 per cent after falling more than 8 per cent in previous session due to disappointing results in Q1 and guidance for FY13. However, TCS gained as much as 4 per cent after better than expected numbers in the June quarter, but the profit booking has restricted gains to 1 per cent at close.
Top lender State Bank of India dropped 1.7 per cent whereas its rival HDFC Bank rose 1.2 per cent after the company met expectations for June quarter results.
Jindal Steel topped the selling list, declining more than 3 per cent; Hindalco Industries, Tata Steel and Sterlite Industries were down 1-2 per cent.
Private oil & gas producer Reliance Industries and engineering and construction major by sales Larsen & Toubro declined 0.35 per cent each.
Cigarette major ITC moved up 0.75 per cent and state-owned oil & gas producer ONGC was up 0.9 per cent. Two-wheeler major Hero Motocorp rallied 1.4 per cent and telecom operator Bharti Airtel gained 0.5 per cent.
Mining companies led a bounce in European equities on Friday, having fallen in the previous session, as growth data from China proved no worse than feared but weak enough to keep alive hopes for more official stimulus for the economy. (With inputs from Reuters)
France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE were up 0.4-0.7 per cent at 15:30 hours IST. The Dow Jones futures gained 45 points.
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