Market falters on dismal factory output; Nifty down 15 points

The industrial output registered a negative growth of 1.8 per cent in June. This comes at a time when the economy is facing a slowdown and the situation is accentuated by inflationary pressures and a series of economic outlook downgrading amid inaction on policy front.

As the dismal factory output figure poured in, investors resorted to profit-taking, leading the market to surrender early gains. The choppy market traded in a tight range throughout the session before closing with modest loss but well above the psychological 5,300 level.

Though the market reacted negatively to the industrial data, it showed some resilience on hopes of policy action from new Finance Minister P Chidambaram, traders said.

Asian markets ended higher on hopes of action from ECB to tackle eurozone debt crisis and easing inflation in China. The European counterparts were also trading firm.

Banking, realty, oil & gas and infra counters saw selling, while FMCG, auto and metal shares attracted buying.

The 50-share Nifty swung between a high of 5,368.20 and a low of 5,312.10 before ending at 5,322.95, a fall of 15.05 points, or 0.28 per cent, over the last close.

Bharti Airtel, SBIN, HDFC, BPCL, Ranbaxy, Cairn, Bank of Baroda, Sail, Siemens and RIL were the top percentage-wise losers from the Nifty pack. M&M, Sterlite Industries, HUL, Tata Power, Coal India, Sesa Goa, Grasim, IDFC, ITC and L&T ended with gains.

The turnover in cash segment declined to Rs 11,262.87 crore from Rs 11,348.35 crore yesterday. Overall, 6,526.54 lakh shares changed hands in 54,61,661 trades. Market capitalisation stood at Rs 60,27,812 crore.