Nifty slips 17 pts on profit-booking

Benchmark Nifty slipped 17 points to settle at 9,119.40 amid profit-booking in key front-line shares of FMCG, pharma, banks, auto and metal counters.
The key indices opened gap-up supported by firm Asian cues after overnight gains at the Wall Street on revived hopes of US tax cuts, but volatility struck during afternoon and investors opted for profit-booking due to caution over ongoing earning season, as market slipped into decline and ended lower.
The NSE 50-share index opened higher at 9,179.10 and hovered between 9,183.65 and 9,088.75 before finishing at 9,119.40, showing a loss of 17 points, or 0.19 per cent. It saw an intra-day movement of 94.90 points.

Asian market ended higher after Bank of Japan's (BOJ) Governor Haruhiko Kuroda maintained an accommodative monetary policy and on optimism for a US tax overhaul.
European markets were trading narrowly mixed in their afternoon trade.
FMCG index fell 1.13 per cent, followed by pharma 0.93 per cent, PSU banks 0.90 per cent, auto 0.52 per cent, metal 0.49 per cent and IT 0.31 per cent.

While, realty rose 2.41 per cent, energy by 1.04 per cent and infra 0.29 per cent.
The broader mid-cap and small-cap also gained 0.02 per cent and 0.34 per cent, respectively.
Major index losers were SunPharma (2.49 per cent), Bank of Baroda (2.48 per cent), Asian Paint (1.93 per cent), ITC (1.84 per cent) and Wipro (1.70 per cent).

The gainers included Infratel (2.96 per cent), Reliance (2.41 per cent), HDFC Bank (2.36 per cent), NTPC (2.14 per cent) and TechM (1.70 per cent).
A total of 859 shares declined and 832 advanced while 84 ruled steady.
Total securities that hit their price bands were 114.
Turnover in the cash segment moved-up to Rs 25,406.30 crore, from Rs 25,390.82 crore yesterday.
A total of 14,556.67 lakh shares changed hands in 9,255,291 trades. The market capitalisation of listed of firms stood at Rs 12,143,882 crore.