Sensex ends flat, continues to fall for 2nd week

Mumbai: The BSE Sensex closed Friday's rangebound session with a moderate gain. Liquidity post ECB's second tranche of long term refinancing operation tried to keep the market buoyant, though concerns like rising oil prices that alleviated hopes of rate cuts in forthcoming monetary policy by RBI still persist.

However, it was second consecutive weekly loss for the market, extended fall by 1.5 per cent this week after a 2 per cent cut in previous week - weighed down by banks, technology and capital goods stocks.

Experts feel that traders as well as investors look cautious since last week especially ahead of major events like Budget, UP election results and RBI, though foreign instituional investors interest have not gone down. So far they have bought more than Rs 38,000 crore worth of shares in 2012 and the market rallied 20 per cent on the Nifty in first seven weeks of 2012.

Shashank Khade, Executive Vice President and Head - Portfolio Management Services (PMS), Kotak Securities said, "The events which are causing the market to consolidate right now are: first is clearly the UP election results that will really reaffirm whether the assumption of better stability in central government plays out. I think the first litmus test which the markets will possibly pass through. Second is the CRR cut and what RBI does, and third is the budget. These are all impending events which will make investors cautious."

The BSE benchmark rose 52.83 points or 0.3 per cent, to close at 17,636.80 led by 16 stocks. Meanwhile, the NSE benchmark went up 19.60 points or 0.37 per cent to 5,359.35.