Asian cues drag Nifty below 5400, IIP data snubbed

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The Nifty slipped below the 5400 mark due to weak Asian cues. It was weighed down by ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries and Infosys. However, significant slowdown of December industrial output growth at 1.8% as against 5.9% month-on-month did not see much reaction in the market. The CNBC-TV18 poll had estimated the IIP number at 3.45%.

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The Sensex was down just 80 points at 17,751. Meanwhile, the Nifty fell 27 points to 5,385. Asian markets too were down 0.6-1.2%; only Shanghai falls just 0.3%.

Major contributors to the IIP - capital goods and mining sectors growth came in negative in December. However, growth in other sectors like consumer durables, non-durable consumer goods, consumer goods and electricity was lower than last month.

Deputy chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia sees pick up in the industrial activity in January-March. However,Samiran Chakrabarty, Head of Research, Standard Chartered Bank is not expecting any sign of industrial recovery.

Back in the market, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank were down 0.7-1.6% while SBI was down just 0.2%.

Technology stocks like Infosys and TCS lost 0.6-1.4%. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries declined 1% while ONGC rose 0.55%.

In the metal space, Sterlite Industries and Hindalco dropped nearly 2% wheras Tata Steel shot up nearly 4%.

Among others, L&T and Bharti Airtel were up 0.3% and 0.9%, respectively.

At 10:44 hours IST : Sensex volatile; Tata Steel up 4.5% despite loss in Q3

Indian equity market was completely lacklustre in the morning trade while Asian peers were under pressure on doubts over Greek debt deal that was approved yesterday. The Nifty managed to hold the 5400 mark, trading up 10 points at 5,422. Meanwhile, the Sensex rose 45 points to 17,875.51.
 
However, technical experts believe the market would cross the 6300 level on the Nifty. Sudarshan Sukhani, s2analytics.com is bullish on the market. "The Nifty is in a bull market and should cross 6,300," he adds. According to him, the market is giving clear sign that the uptrend is very strong. He advises investors to stay long.

Shares of Tata Steel topped the buying list, rising 4.5% even after the company reported a loss of Rs 600 crore in Q3FY12.

L&T, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, ONGC, M&M, Bajaj Auto and Tata Power were supporting the market, gaining 0.7-1.5%. SBI and Wipro were marginally higher.

However, Infosys, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, TCS, BHEL, Hindalco and Cipla were down 0.5-0.75%. Even index heavyweight Reliance Industries was marginally in the red.

The broader indices outperformed benchmarks - the BSE Midcap Index was up 0.85% and Smallcap up 1%.

Shares of oil marketing companies were on buyers' radar after stellar performance by HPCL in Q3. HPCL shot up 7%; BPCL (ahead of numbers today) and IOC gained 3.5-4.5%.