It turned out to be a cautious play for stocks on Thursday as investors decided to wait for the next big trigger ahead of the upcoming long weekend.
At the end of the day, there was barely any movement in both Sensex and Nifty compared to their previous close, but the bias turned negative.
The restraint on part of investors was chiefly because of RBI's minutes of its December policy meeting, which showed that some members were concerned about rising oil prices, its inflationary impact and possibility of fiscal slippage.
“Market showed signs of consolidation due to lack of fresh triggers to cross the next resistance while RBI's cautious view on slow pace in economic recovery and inflation impacted sentiment. Construction companies rallied owing to expectation of improvement in execution in H2 FY18 and growth in order booking led by the government's programme to boost infrastructure growth,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.
The day's movement was one of many ups and downs, but in the end, the 30-share BSE index stood at 33,756.28, down 21.10 points, or 0.06 per cent. Auto, banking, FMCG and oil & gas lay low. The gauge had lost 59 points in the previous session.
The NSE Nifty treaded water at 10,440.30, easing only 3.90 points, or 0.04 per cent.
Indian bond prices fell to their lowest in nearly 1-1/2 years on the RBI minutes. The rupee's weakness against the dollar weighed heavy, too.
Participants were not in a mood to go for big bets in view of the approaching Christmas and the year-end.
Asian and European stocks were not too enthusiastic about the passage of the sweeping US tax cut legislation and fell.
The Bank of Japan kept monetary policy steady despite growing signs of strength in the economy.
While foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) net sold shares worth Rs 1,505.04 crore on Wednesday, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities to the tune of Rs 146.17 crore.