BUSINESS NEWS:Nifty ends little changed ahead of Infy results

MUMBAI: Indian equity benchmarks gave away intraday gains and ended flat Monday as traders unwound long positions in frontline stocks ahead of
third-quarter results by Infosys Technologies. ( Watch )

Market opened firm in line with other global markets but failed to hold on to gains as profit booking in heavyweight Reliance Industries put pressure on the indices.

Even as the broader market continued to gain momentum, the benchmarks drifted lower due to lack of fresh buying at higher levels. Analysts say market will take cues from the earnings season that kick starts tomorrow.

“Overall earnings will span out to be positive this quarter. Positive surprise is expected from infrastructure and engineering sectors. IT sector will be flattish while Infosys Technologies is expected to announce better-than-expected numbers.

Spike in the index on account of third quarter results will lead to marginal liquidation of holdings by big players. We are expecting a correction anytime before March and Nifty may slip to 4200-4400.”

Inflation is likely to touch 8 per cent by March which will lead to hardening of interest rates as is visible by shorter maturity cycles,” said Vinay Pandit, vice president & head of research, IFCI Financial Services.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty closed at 5249.40, up 4.65 points or 0.09 per cent. The index touched an intraday high of 5287.20 and low of 5227.80.

Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex ended at 17526.71, down 13.58 points or 0.08 per cent. The 30-share index hit a high of 17776.57 and low of 17500.79.

BSE Midcap Index was up 0.90 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index moved 1.80 per cent higher.

Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Realty Index gained 2.57 per cent, BSE Auto Index moved 0.92 per cent higher and BSE IT Index moved up 0.88 per cent.

IT bellwether Infosys will report its third quarter results Tuesday. According to Arihant Capital Markets, Infosys will report QoQ growth of 4.1 per cent in US dollar terms. “In rupee terms, we expect a revenue growth of ~3.6 per cent. We thereby expect its EPS to be ~Rs 26.1per share in 3QFY10 as compared to Rs 26.86 in the previous quarter. For the full year, we can safely expect Infosys’ EPS to be at ~Rs 104 per share,” the result preview note said.

Nifty gainers included Unitech (5.02%), Punjab National Bank (3.09%), ABB (3.08%), Axis Bank (3.06%) and TCS (2.60%).

Reliance Industries (-1.78%), Cairn (-1.68%), BHEL (-0.99%), Power Grid (-0.91%) and Hindalco Industries (-0.78%) were amongst the losers.