Market loses ground on downgrade fears, Nifty down 14 pts

The trading had commenced on a strong note buoyed by week-end overseas development. Strong buying was noticed in banking, capital goods, auto and infra counters which helped the Nifty to cross the 5,100 mark by mid-session.

The key-index, however, turned volatile and erased all the gains in late afternoon-trade as sentiment was affected following reports that the global rating agency S&P had cited "slowing GDP growth and political roadblocks to economic policy-making" as some of the worrying factors that may lead to a rating downgrade for India.

The news report triggered heavy all-round selling with speculators and investors wanting to cut down their positions, traders said.

Meanwhile, financial markets across Asia and Europe rallied on reports that the European finance ministers had agreed to bailout Spain's struggling banks and also due to better- than-expected weekend economic data from China.

The 50-share Nifty oscillated between a high of 5,124.45 and a low of 5,040.70 before settling at 5,054.10, a fall of 14.25 points, or 0.28 per cent, over the last close.

HCL-Tech, BHEL, Cipla, Sesa Goa, L&T, DLF, Jindal Steel, IDFC, HeroMotoco and Tata Motors were the top percentage-wise losers from the Nifty pack.

Tata Power, Bajaj Auto, Grasim, Hindu unilver, Siemens, JP Associates, GAIL, Coal India, BPCL and Kotak Bank topped gainer's list.

The turnover in cash segment marginally declined to Rs 9,620.09 crore against Rs 9,740.85 crore last Friday. In all, 7,228 lakh shares changed hands in 53,58,477 trades. Market capitalisation stood at Rs 57,88,392 crore.