Nifty wavers ahead of ECB meet, down by 13 pts

Investors turned cautious as expectations of stimulus by major central banks faded ahead of ECB policy meet later in the day and the US Federal Reserve not coming out with new easing measures to boost its deteriorating economy.

Trading started on a subdued note against the backdrop of grim global outlook. There was profit-taking witnessed in oil&gas, bank and auto counters, dragging the index to day's low. However, select low level bargain hunting in blue chip counters and power related stocks helped the market to cut short its earlier losses.

The 50-share Nifty traded in a range of 5,236.90 and 5,209.95 before ending at 5,227.75, a marginal loss of 12.75 points or 0.24 per cent over the last close.

Cairn, Tata Motors, BPCL, Tata Power, Cipla, IDFC, Sterlite Industries, JP Associates, Ambuja Cement and ONGC were the top percentage-wise losers from the Nifty bunch.

Among the gainers were NTPC, BHEL, Axis Bank, Sail, Jindal Steel, TCS, L&T, Bajaj Auto, Grasim and Asian Paint.

The turnover in cash segment slumped to Rs 7,345.13 crore against Rs 9,000.04 crore yesterday. In all, 4,493.44 lakh shares changed hands in 40,36,149 trades. Market capitalisation stood at Rs 59,66,788 crore.