The market ended lower on Tuesday due to selling pressure after Monday's gain.

Moving in a intra-day range of 27 points, the 30-share BSE Sensitive Index (Sensex) settled with a loss of 11.65 points at 2,985.32.

The NSE S & P CNX Nifty Index shed 3.75 points to close at 943.45.

Trading was quite lacklustre as share prices moved in a narrow band after a subdued opening and subsequent recovery from the lower levels.

The quarterly results of India Inc. have largely been driving the market sentiment of late. The first batch of quarterly results, mainly from tech companies, has turned out to be disappointing. There are hopes that encouraging results from companies in Old Economy sectors may help contain some of the damage.

Meanwhile, the inflows from foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have risen in the last couple of sessions after massive outflows on 10 and 14 April 2003. FIIs pumped in a net Rs 82.50 crore on Thursday (17 April 2003) after putting in a net Rs 227.90 crore on Wednesday (16 April 2003).

Tech pivotals like HCL Technologies (down 1.83% to Rs 144.55) and Infosys Technologies (down 0.38% to Rs 2,920) ended lower on selling pressure after intra-day volatility.

Heavyweights like ITC (down 1.79% to Rs 663.50), Reliance Industries (down 0.57% to Rs 277.50) and Hindustan Lever (down 0.69% to Rs 143.70) also contributed to the weakness in the Sensex.

Satyam Computer bounced back from a low of Rs 148.30 to a high of Rs 159.90 before settling at Rs 158.80, up 2.78% over its previous close. The company is scheduled to announce its Q4, FY 2002-03 results on Wednesday. Over 1.13 crore Satyam Computer shares were traded on the BSE.

BSES (up 0.90% to Rs 224.70) ended with modest gains, recovering smartly from the day's low of Rs 212 on last-minute buying support. The stock shed as much as 4.80% in intra-day trades after the company announced its Q4 and FY 2002-03 results on Monday, providing Rs 135 crore for reconciliation and settlement of accounts.

State Bank of India also rose from Rs 284.05 to a high of Rs 291.70 before settling at Rs 289.70, up 0.71% over its previous close.

HDFC advanced from a low of Rs 320.20 to Rs 334.85 before settling at Rs 330, up 0.89% over its previous close.

NIIT (up 12.66% to Rs 129) gained further ground, recovering from an intra-day low of Rs 111.80, on sustained buying support after the company announced impressive quarterly results last Thursday. Over 36.66 lakh NIIT shares were traded on the BSE.

Hexaware (down 5.78% to Rs 97) and Geometric Software (down 6.04% to Rs 405.50) ended lower ahead of the announcement of their quarterly results.

RCF (up 3.70% to Rs 23.85) ended off its day's high of Rs 25.30 on selling pressure after recent gains. Over 26.67 lakh RCF shares were traded on the BSE.

Punjab Tractors (up 2.28% to Rs 130) ended higher on hopes that the process of the disinvestment of the Punjab government PSU will be completed by end of June 2003. For the quarter ended 31 March 2003, the company posted a net profit of Rs 7.50 crore (Rs 17.02 crore) on total income of Rs 113.50 crore (Rs 196.87 crore).

Titan Industries (up 7.54% to Rs 61.30) gained ground as the company has lifted the partial lock-out at its Hosur plant with effect from 21 April 2003.

IPCL (down 5.05% to Rs 88.30) lost ground ahead of the announcement of its quarterly results.

Source: capitalmarket.com