The Indian shares were flat on Wednesday, consolidating after last week's rally to record highs as markets readied for the end of the financial year on March 31. Shares of India's second-largest bank, ICICI Bank Ltd, rose 4.8 percent ahead of a likely pricing on Thursday of its sponsored American Depository Shares, which will allow local investors to sell shares in the United States.
The benchmark 30-share Mumbai index gave up earlier gains to end 0.08 percent lower at 6,746.88 points amid signs that foreign buying, a key support to the market, has slowed.
"The markets usually tend to fall in March for a variety of technical reasons, because people have to close their books or to unwind positions because of leveraged buying," said Ajit Surana, managing director at Dimensional Securities.
"If it hadn't been for the (foreign institutional investment) flows this month, the market would have fallen a little bit further."
While foreign funds were net sellers on Tuesday for the first time since January 25, they have bought some $4 billion worth of Indian shares in 2005 - nearly half of last year's record level - helping send the index to new highs above 6,900 last week.
Indian bonds slipped as investors shunned debt ahead of an expected jump in issuance's in the new fiscal year. The 10-year benchmark yield edged up to a two-week high of 6.6223 percent, but dealers said losses were limited by a dip in oil prices after oil cartel Opec decided to increase production.
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