NSE Nifty drops 35 points on tail-end selling

The selling was seen mainly in media, IT, FMCG and energy stocks on the last day of derivatives contract as the market snapped a two-session of rising trend.

After resuming up, the market largely moved in a narrow range. However, profit-booking towards the end on the concluding day of December contract weighed on the market and it ended in the red.

The 50-issue S&P CNX Nifty touched a high of 5,930.80 but fell back to settle at 5,870.10, displaying a fall of 35.50 points, or 0.60 per cent.

Global stocks were mixed with upward bias amid concerns about US fiscal cliff. Barring China, other Asian markets closed with small gains, while in Europe, the CAC and FTSE were trading better and the DAX was quoting weak in afternoon deals.

Meanwhile, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) pumped in USD 162.16 million in the market yesterday, taking the total to over USD 4.43 billion in the current month so far, according to Sebi data.

Top five losers from Nifty were GAIL India (1.95 pct), Jindal Steel (1.86 pct), BHEL (1.65 pct), Power Grid (1.43 pct) and JP Associate (1.43 pct). Key gainers were Bank of Baroda (1.20 pct), Tata Motors (1.05 pct), SBI (0.81 pct), ONGC (0.74 pct) and Dr Reddy's Lab (0.71 pct).

The turnover in cash segment shot up to Rs 13,809.02 crore from Rs 9,030.03 crore yesterday. Overall, 9,176.28 lakh shares changed hands in 50,09,171 trades. Total market capitalisation stood at Rs 66,61,003 crore.