Nifty slips ahead of earnings season, ends lower by 15 pts

Market benchmark Nifty ended lower by 14.70 points to settle at 8,323.20 following mild profit booking in FMCG, banks, energy, infra and PSU counters ahead of quarterly earnings season beginning next week.
The low-volume trading session amid volatility saw investors opting for caution, weighed by subdued Asian trends as well as stock specific news domestically.
However, bouts of buying in auto and pharma counters supported the index to some extent.
Key telecom stocks were hit by concerns that DoT will soon issue demand notice of over Rs 12,500 crore to six telecom operators amid allegations of under-reporting of revenue to the tune of Rs 45,000 crore.

Auto segment gained as shares of Tata Motors rose by over 2 per cent after the company's Jaguar Land Rover reported 22 per cent jump in global retail sales in first half the year.
Elsewhere, Asian shares traded weak as investors awaited US jobs data to get a clearer picture of the health of the world's biggest economy.

European openings were also lower on worsening health of Italian banks.
The 50-share index resumed higher at 8,350.30 and hovered between 8,353.30 and 8,287.55 before finishing at 8,323.20, showing a loss of 14.70 points or 0.18 per cent.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth a net Rs 299.51 crore yesterday, as per provisional data.

Major losers were Idea (2.63 per cent), GAIL (2.42 per cent), Bharti Airtel (2.28 per cent), Bank of Baroda (2.15 per cent) and Bharti Infratel (1.75 per cent).
Gainers include Tata Motors (2.45 per cent), Asian Paints (2.33 per cent), Aurobindo Pharma (2.11 per cent), Hero MotoCorp (2.10 per cent) and IndusInd Bank (1.93 per cent).
A total of 988 scrips declined, 617 gained, while 60 were unchanged.
Turnover in cash segment fell to Rs 16,602.18 crore from Rs 18,571.64 crore yesterday.
A total of 10,907.26 lakh shares changed hands in 68,76,522 trades. The market capitalisation of NSE stood at Rs 101,97,343 crore.