Indian shares closed flat on Tuesday after four consecutive days of gains with banking shares such as State Bank of India down on profit-taking while Asian markets fell ahead of major central bank meetings. The benchmark NSE index ended flat at 7,485.30, while the broader BSE index gained 0.05 percent to end at 24,659.23. Both indexes jumped about 7 percent in the last four days through Friday. Indian markets were closed on Monday.
Asian stock markets also wobbled, after they hit a two-month high in the previous session, ahead of the European Central Bank's policy review on Thursday and US Federal Reserve's policy meeting next week. "It's a retracement that we are seeing after last week's rally," said AK Prabhakar, head of research at IDBI Capital. "Now the fresh selloff has started and its mainly because of the global factors."
Global factors will likely continue to influence domestic markets in the days ahead. But investors remain hopeful the Reserve Bank of India could cut interest rates even before its next policy review on April 3 after the government last week stuck to its fiscal deficit target for next year. State-run lenders such as State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank fell 2-3 percent after a rally last week that was spurred by the Reserve Bank of India's move to ease capital requirement rules.
Just Dial slumped 15 percent as investors booked profits following a near 42 percent surge in the past four sessions. Goldman Sachs downgraded the company to "sell", partly on fears about the company's core search business. Among the gainers, miners NMDC and Steel Authority of India jumped 7 percent and 8 percent, respectively, on strong metals trade data from China, the world's top metal consumer.
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