The Sensex has ended (provisional) at 17,196 – down 36 points. Nifty has ended down eight points at 5,227.
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(Update at 1430 hrs)
Markets has suddenly slumped to the day's low in afternoon trades. The Sensex dropped to a low of 17,195 after trading in a range bound fashion for most part of the day. The BSE benchmark index is up 18 points at 17,215. Nifty is up 10 points at 5,225.
India's exports fell 5.45% to $25.1 billion in June, while imports fell 13.46% to $35.3 billion, leaving a trade deficit of $10.3 billion, a senior trade ministry official said on Friday.
Exports between April and June fell 1.7%, totalling $75.2 billion, Anup Pujari, director general of foreign trade told reporters.
The rupee trimmed early gains against dollar but was still trading higher by 31 paise at 55.63 a dollar on selling by banks and exporters amid persistent capital inflows.
Almost all the Asian markets were in the green after China's second-quarter gross domestic product data landed in line with forecasts, offsetting worries that a slowdown in China could undermine fragile global growth. Kospi rose 1.5%, followed by Straits Times and Hang Seng.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 268.54 crore on Thursday, according to data available with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).
BSE consumer durables index slipped 1.3% to 6252. Realty and metal indices were the key draggers and were down around 1% each.
IT major TCS is the biggest gainers among Sensex stocks, following its results on Thursday. The company reported nearly 38% jump in consolidated net profit for the April-June quarter of the financial year 2012-13. Shares of TCS were up 2% at Rs 1,258.
On the other hand, Infosys reeled under pressure from a disappointing guidance outlook. The stock was down 1% at Rs 2241.
Hero MotoCorp, Gail India, Cipla and ONGC were up around 1% each. HDFC Bank was up 0.6% following its results.
India's second-largest lender among private banks reported a 30.5% increase in net profit at Rs 1,417 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2012. It was Rs 1,085 0crore in the same period a year ago. The net interest income rose 22.3% to Rs 3,484 crore from Rs 2,848 crore in June 2011. The other income increased 36.6% to Rs 1,520 crore from Rs 1,120 crore for the quarter ended June 2011.