(RTTNews) - The Indian market closed modestly lower on Wednesday, with a spike in Brent crude futures to above $122 a barrel and the prospects of higher interest rates hurting investor sentiment. Reserve Bank of India Deputy governor Subir Gokarn and Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council Chairman C Rangarajan warned yesterday that inflation would ultimately undermine economic growth.
After moving in a range of 19,811-19,551, the benchmark 30-share BSE Sensex closed down 75 points or 0.38 percent at 19,612, with 20 of its components declining. The 50-share Nifty index dipped 18 points or 0.31 percent to 5,892, while the BSE mid-cap and small-cap indexes ended up about half a percent each.
Sector-wise, IT stocks closed subdued after the Indian rupee hit a 5-month high against the dollar, boosted by rising dollar inflows and a stronger euro ahead of an expected rate hike by the European Central Bank on Thursday. Bellwether Infosys eased 0.27 percent, Wipro fell nearly 3 percent and TCS ended down 1.25 percent.
In the telecom sector, Bharti Airtel fell 1.86 percent and Idea Cellular plunged over 5 percent. Rival Reliance Communication shed 1.20 percent after the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament on Tuesday grilled Anil Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group, in connection with the 2G scam.
However, other group stocks such as Reliance Power (up 2 percent), Reliance Infrastructure (up 1.21 percent) and Reliance Capital (up 0.58 percent) closed in positive territory.
Among banking stocks, ICICI Bank shed 0.86 percent and HDFC Bank declined 0.58 percent, but SBI posted a modest 0.10 percent gain. Metal stocks such as Tata Steel, Jindal Steel, Sterlite Industries, and Hindalco ended down between 0.2 percent and 1.7 percent.
Maruti Suzuki fell 1.40 percent after it raised car prices. Mahindra & Mahindra eased 0.93 percent, but Bajaj Auto ended up half a percent, Tata Motors rose 1.19 percent and Hero Honda Motors climbed 2.22 percent.
NTPC advanced 1.78 percent after the power generation company said its provisional net profit for the fourth quarter rose 24 percent from a year earlier. Among the other prominent gainers, Hindustan Unilever, Jaiprakash Associates, DLF, ONGC and NTPC rose by about half a percent each.
Mawana Sugars climbed 3.68 percent on reports about business restructuring. Mahindra Satyam jumped 6 percent, a day after it agreed to pay $10 million to settle U.S. probes into a massive accounting fraud.
Talwalkar Better Value Fitness rallied 4.38 percent after the company said it plans to launch 65 health clubs in FY12 with an investment of Rs.100 crore. Elecon Engineering rose 3.45 percent on bagging a Rs 176.49-crore contract from NMDC. Supreme Infrastructure India added 1.5 percent on securing four construction contracts worth Rs. 389.15 crore.
