Nifty ends on Friday at 9,400 ahead of inflation data, up 1% for the week

Benchmark indices ended lower with the Nifty settling at 9,400 as investors turned cautious ahead of inflation data and booked profits in recent outperformers.

Consumer price inflation (CPI) is expected to have eased to a three-month low of 3.49% in April from 3.81% the previous month, according to Reuters poll. The government will also unveil the new series of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) as well as Wholesale Price Index (WPI), with 2011-12 as the base year, later in the day.

Both Sensex and Nifty hit record highs of in the previous two sessions, and were up more than 1% for the week. This is a second consecutive week of gains for the indices.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 30,188, down 62 points, while the broader Nifty50 settled at 9,401, down 21 points.

The broader markets underperformed benchmarks, with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices falling half a percent each on weak breadth.  The S&P BSE Midcap and the S&P BSE Smallcap indices tanked 0.7% and 0.8% respectively.

Asian Paints, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank and Adani Ports lost the most on BSE Sensex, while Hero MotoCorp, Infosys, Cipla and Sun Pharma were the top gainers.

BSE Healthcare index fell over 0.5% dragged by Glenmark Pharmaceuticals after it slumped 17%, its sharpest intra-day fall in 7 years, as the company’s fourth-quarter profit missed analysts’ estimates. The stock ended 16% lower.

Asian Paints shed over 3% even after the company reported 10.13% increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 479.61 crore in the March quarter as its consolidated Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) margins contracted by 100 basis points to 18% year-on-year. The stock was the top loser on Sensex and Nifty both.

Infosys gained 2% following news reports that the company has delayed salary increases to at least July and even later for senior employees.

Shares of Reliance Infrastructure rose as much as 4.6% but later pared some gains to end  3% higher after the company’s subsidiary, Delhi Airport Metro Express, won an arbitration case against Delhi Metro Rail Corp on Thursday.

TVS Motor Company was trading 3% higher at Rs 515 on BSE in an otherwise subdued market after the company announced its alliance with MASESA (Mayor Servicios Socieda Anonima). Among other auto stocks, Eicher Motors fell about 1% after rising for five straight sessions, while Ashok Leyland was down 0.7% after two sessions of gains.

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