Nifty drops 35 points on profit-taking

The benchmark had rallied 1.3 percent yesterday on renewed optimism over the global economic growth outlook.

The widespread selling amidst volatility brought down all sectoral indices barring fmcg.

Trading began on a weak note with modest selling in frontline stocks. The operators were also cautious ahead of earning results of many heavy-weights.

The key-index reclaimed some of its lost ground in afternoon-trade reacting to strong Q2 numbers from heavyweight ITC, but fell back again. A sudden fall in rupee which settled at one-month low of 53.84 against the US currency too affected the sentiment.

Investors preferred to take out some profit after yesterday's smart rally, traders commented.

On the global front, Asian stocks slipped after three- day surge ahead of the EU summit outcome.

The Nifty fluctuated between a high of 5,711.70 and a low of 5,660 before ending at 5,684.25, registering a fall of 34.45 points, or 0.60 per cent, over its last close.

Jindal Steel, Hindalco, BHEL, BPCL, Grasim, GAIL, M&M, Ranbaxy, Tata Power and Reliance Infra were among the top percentage-wise Nifty losers. The key outperformers included ITC, Ambuja Cement, Dr Reddy, Infosys Tech, Bharti Airtel, DLF, HCL-Tech, Hero MotoCorp and Lupin.

The turnover in cash segment dropped to Rs 10,616.26 crore from Rs 11,654.01 crore yesterday. Overall, 6,617 lakh shares changed hands in 57,25,663 trades.