MUMBAI: Indian markets ended in the red, paring more than half of the gains of last session, as bulls took a breather after a stellar rally in last session. The market is expected to take cues from the quarterly results for direction next week. According to experts the earnings are likely to be lackluster due to prevailing high interest rates, commodity prices and slower growth. "Given the extraordinarily poor investment climate and weakening consumer demand, we believe financial results from corporate India will remain lackluster for some more quarters. Report numbers may start improving on account of base effect or lower raw material costs, but the underlying momentum is likely to take a while to revive. For the year our analysts are forecasting 17.1% growth in Nifty earnings (slightly above consensus) though we admit there remains some downside to this forecast," said Apurva Shah, VP & Head Research (Institutional Equities), Prabhudas Lilladher. Sharp profit booking was seen in metals and mining stocks after a group of ministers formed to approve the draft mining Bill agreed to earmark 100 per cent of the royalty paid by major mineral mining companies, to compensate people displaced by such projects. The panel, chaired by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee , which met on Thursday, also agreed to earmark 26 per cent of the profit made by coal mining companies, in favour of people directly affected. Major minerals would include iron ore, bauxite, copper and other minerals. Typically royalty is a tax calculated as a percentage of price. The current royalty rate for iron ore is 10% and revenue garnered from royalty go to state governments. Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex closed at 18858.04, down 220.26 points or 1.15 per cent. The 30-share index hit a high of 19131.70 and low of 18817.71 intraday. National Stock Exchange's Nifty ended at 5660.65, down 68.30 points or 1.19 per cent. The broader index touched a high of 5740.40 and low of 5651.05 in trade today. BSE Midcap Index was down 0.61 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index moved 0.86 per cent lower. Amongst sectoral indices, BSE Metal Index was down 2.99 per cent, BSE FMCG Index fell 1.14 per cent and BSE Oil&gas Index declined 1.13 per cent. BSE Realty Index was up 2.08 per cent. "We are negative on the realty sector. Real estate prices have moved up too high and supply is running ahead of demand in NCR and Mumbai region. Also there are genuine concerns of corporate governance as well. Our view is to stay away from the sector. FMCG is another sector we are bearish on. There will be margin pressure and price competition. Also the valuations are at multi-year highs.

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