Indian shares surrendered early gains on Friday to end marginally lower as funds suddenly turned sellers ahead of the Budget on February 28, with gains from telecoms firm Bharti offsetting a drop in auto firms.
The benchmark 30-share Bombay index -- Sensex ended 4.97 points or 0.08 per cent lower at 6,584.32 points, after rising 0.8 per cent in early trade. Gainers outnumbered losers by 1,215 to 871 in volume of 271 million shares.
The market has shed 0.7 per cent over the last week.
The broader National Stock Exchange index -- Nifty finished 0.31 per cent lower at 2,055.55.
"The market was quite lacklustre and there was really no liquidity. Even people who wanted to sell couldn't," said Devang Shah, vice-president institutional sales at Sushil Finance.
"Everyone is sitting on their cash and not taking fresh positions. I think the market could swing 200 points either way from here," Shah added.
Investors are wary of Budget for the fiscal year beginning April 1, due to be presented on February 28. Most, however, expect it to cut taxes and increase foreign investment limits in sectors such as banks to spur growth.
Traders said foreign fund inflows, that have been a key contributor to boosting Indian markets, were also weak on Friday.
{{/usCountry}}Traders said foreign fund inflows, that have been a key contributor to boosting Indian markets, were also weak on Friday.
{{/usCountry}}Foreign institutional investors have moved more than $1.3 billion into Indian stocks in February, attracted by strong quarterly earnings in an economy expected to grow nearly seven per cent in the current year ending March 2005.
The benchmark Bombay share index hit an all-time high of 6,719.20 on Monday, rallying more than 9.5 per cent in about four weeks, but it has since dropped 1.4 per cent.
India's top listed mobile phone company, Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd rose 3.8 per cent to Rs 218.15.
But the country's top auto maker, Maruti Udyog Ltd, shed 2.2 per cent to Rs 462.75 and Tata Motors fell two per cent to Rs 478.60.
Car maker Hindustan Motors Ltd rose 2.9 per cent to Rs 33.40 after it told the Bombay Stock Exchange its board would meet on Saturday to consider a business restructuring. No other details were immediately available.