Indian shares ended slightly lower on Thursday after short-covering tied to the expiry of derivatives lifted some shares, while broader gains were capped after the US Federal Reserve kept open the prospect of more rate hikes this year. The broader NSE index ended 0.18 percent lower, while the benchmark BSE index lost 0.09 percent.
Investors will keep an eye out for quarterly earnings of ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel and Maruti Suzuki expected post market close. The Fed kept interest rates unchanged on Wednesday and said it was "closely monitoring" global economic and financial developments, signalling it had accounted for a stock market selloff but wasn't ready to abandon a plan to tighten monetary policy this year.
Equity markets back home were slightly volatile as investors churned their positions on the last day of the January derivative contracts and ahead of the February futures and options series that begins on Friday. "Some amount of short covering-led buying has happened due to derivatives' expiry," said Deven Choksey, managing director at KR Choksey Securities. Gains were led by bluechip stocks. ITC gained 2.2 percent, Reliance Industries rose 1.3 percent and Hindustan Unilever surged 3.5 percent.
Shares in Housing Development Finance Corp were down 1.4 percent after the company's December-quarter profit fell short of street estimates. ICICI Bank fell 1.6 percent and Bharti Airtel dropped 1.6 percent ahead of their quarterly results later in the day. Dabur India rose 2 percent as the company reported a slight increase in its quarterly profit and margins although its volume growth was worse-than-expected.
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