Truncated trading week ends; indices finish lower

Commentary

oi-Sunil

By Sunil Fernandes

Published: Wednesday, April 4, 2012, 15:44 [IST]

Markets ended the day lower, in line with overseas markets, which were disappointed following the release of the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting which did not suggest any push for Quantitative Easing 3 (QE3).

The BSE Sensex ended the day lower at 17,486 down 111 points, while the NSE Nifty closed the day lower at 5322 points, down 35 points. The markets will now remain closed for the entire week as April 5, 2012 and April 6, 2012 are holidays on account of Mahavir Jayanti and Good Friday.

The QE3 disappointment is likely to last for a few days in other markets while Indian markets remain closed. QE3 is a mechanism wherein the central bank buys financial assets to inject more liquidity into the system to push economic growth. Thus more money sparks a rally in commodities and equities. However, the problem with quantitative easing is that it tends to push inflation higher, which may have been a concern of the FOMC.

Among the gainers in today's trade were BHEL, Ranbaxy, Dr Reddy's Laboratories and Hindalco.

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