Nifty trades lower amid volatility; metals, oil & gas slip

ALSO READ See Key Market Stats - Top Gainers/ Losers, Most Actives, Highs/Lows See how Global Markets are trading Indian ADRs Nifty BSE | NSE 31/05/12 Are Mutual Funds betting on Nifty?

Equity benchmarks were trading with moderate losses amid volatility since the opening trade today, reacting to weak global cues post disappointing US employment data.

The 50-share NSE Nifty was trading at 5,490, down 26 points. The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 83 points to 18,293.

"We are probably nearing the bottom of the turmoil from a stock market point of view," Nimesh Shah of Axis Bank said. "The inflation number is coming at consistently higher level but going forward, with good monsoon and RBI's monetary policy coming into play, we will see downward trajectory there. The Q4 GDP growth came at 7.8%, which is  below expectation but hopefully the market will have re-price its expectation of growth and hence, whatever growth number comes in Q1 and Q2, it will be in line with the expectations of the market," he explained.

Auto, power, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, metal, PSU oil & gas and select financial companies' shares were putting pressure on the market. However, buying in Bharti Airtel, HDFC, HDFC Bank, TCS and L&T capped the losses. Healthcare stocks continued to their uptrend.

Jaiprakash Associates, Bajaj Auto, Hindalco, Maruti Suzuki, Jindal Steel, Axis Bank and Ambuja Cements were the top losers, with falling 1.5-3%.

However, Cipla, HDFC, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, Sun Pharma and Ranbaxy Labs were top gainers on Nifty, with gaining 0.5-1%.

Standard Chartered, Aanjaneya Life, Sun TV Network, Mahindra Satyam, SBI and Tata Motors were the most active shares on exchanges.

Midcaps

UTV Software, Honeywell Automation, Wockhardt, Shriram City and Fresenius Kabi were up 3-8% while Standard Chartered IDR plunged 13%.

Sterling International, Indian Metals, KGN Industries and Punj Lloyd were down 3-8%.

Market breadth was in favour of declines. About two shares advanced for every one share declined.