Sensex falls for fourth consecutive session; still ends week with a gain 9th April

The BSE's benchmark index Sensex rose for the third week in a row, but fell for the fourth consecutive session, declining 0.7% on Friday, and traders expect the market to be subdued next week after the recent sharp rally. Auto stocks declined as traders booked profits after Bank of America-Merrill Lynch cut its sector profit forecast by 3% for the current fiscal year that started in April.

It is expected that returns to be muted this year driven by - earnings down-grades , on slowing demand and higher costs and - sector derating , due to competition,"
The sector index fell 1.9% on Friday but it still up nearly 14% since the end of February. The 30-share BSE index fell 0.71%, or 139.73 points, at 19451.45 points, with 24 components declining, after starting higher.

It man-aged to eke out a 0.2 gain for the week. Market breadth was in favour of losers as they beat gainers in the ratio of 1.9 to 1, in a volume of 409 million shares, much higher than the 30-day daily average volume of 292 million. The main index had jumped 9.1% in March, posting its biggest gain in six months. "It was too big a rise - that happened a little too soon. So, it needs to plateau out,"

"Money kept pouring in (in March), pushing the markets higher, and the market had to stabilise at some point," Foreign funds have bought shares worth nearly $3 billion since the beginning of March. Investors continued to trickle back into emerging markets over the past week. Equity funds received $5.7 billion in inflows in the week to April 6, the best week since mid-November 2010, banks said on Friday.

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