Mkts in red for 5th consecutive week

Mumbai: The stock markets could not sustain the initial modest gains in the day after a quiet opening and closed in the red at the end of Friday.

The breadth was sticky as mid cap and small cap ended weak and the turnover was also relatively low. On the macroeconomic front, the inflation numbers came in high at 6.46 per cent.

On weekly basis, it was the fifth consecutive week of loss for markets. The Sensex was down 3.7 per cent and the Nifty was down 3 per cent during the week.

Sensex closed down 113.45 points or 0.90 per cent at 12430.4, and the Nifty down 35.05 points or 0.96 per cent at 3608.55.

About 791 shares have advanced, 1723 shares declined, and 64 shares are unchanged.

Other than oil and gas all the BSE sector indices ended in red. Capital good and banking were among the worst hit sectors.

The Sensex opened firm at 12,570.52 and immediately rallied to a high of 12,638.78, a smart rise of 94.93 points over the previous close of 12,543.85.

However, it soon came under heavy selling pressure and fell back.

The NSE cash turnover was at Rs 7011.16 crore and the NSE F&O turnover was at Rs 30436.47 crore. The BSE cash turnover was Rs 3594.59 crore. Total market wide turnover was at Rs 41042.22 crore.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of market regulator SEBI, M Damodaran, tried to allay fears that terrorist organisations were using the Indian markets to fund their operations.

He said that the National Security Advisor's statement which lead to the fears were taken out of context.

"The statement taken out of context by some people. The NSA was just attempting to find the sources who were trying to fund the capital market. Just one among several sources was found," he stated.