Nifty heads towards third straight weekly fall; RIL gains

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The Nifty edged higher in a choppy session on Friday, while still on course for a third consecutive weekly decline, as gains in Reliance Industries after its annual shareholder meeting, overpowered falls in IT exporters for the day.

Reliance rose 1.4 percent after the company said it will commercially start 4G telecommunication services around December, offering a timeline for the launch of a key diversification move that investors have long awaited.

Caution also prevailed ahead of macro data due later in the day which is likely to show factory output growth sank to a six-month low in April, dragged by sluggish infrastructure activity and weak exports, while consumer inflation rose slightly in May, a Reuters poll found.

"Macro data is key but passage of reforms and progress of monsoon would be watched thereafter," said Deven Choksey, managing director at K R Choksey Securities.

The Nifty rose 0.28 percent, while heading towards a weekly fall of 1.6 percent.

The Sensex gained 0.3 percent, although down 1.3 percent so far for the week.

Both indexes are also heading towards their lowest close since Oct. 2014.

The 50-share Nifty broke the psychologically important 8,000 level on Thursday for the first time since Oct. 21, aiding bearish patterns and increasing probabilities of declines near the 7,000 level.

Selling by foreign investors continued amid worries that a likely weak monsoon may delay key reforms and further cuts in borrowing costs also weighed.

Overseas investors have sold nearly $200 million worth of cash shares in June so far, adding to the $900 million worth of shares sold in the previous month, depository and exchange data showed.

Software exporters led the decliners on media reports the companies are under scrutiny by the U.S. labor department.

Infosys fell 1.3 percent while Tata Consultancy Services lost 3 percent.

($1 = 64.1100 rupees)

(Reporting by Abhishek Vishnoi; Editing by Sunil Nair)