The markets have been all over the place as participants seek to make sense of the IIP numbers. The Sensex is quoting at 19102, weaker by 92 points and the Nifty is at 5727, down 26 points. There is outperformance on the broader market front as well; the midcap index is at 7226, lower by 20 points and the smallcap index is at 8989, down 29 points.
While the indices shed about half a percent in a knee-jerk reaction to the poor numbers, the possible realisation that the disappointment was already factored into the correction that is now into the seventh day led to a feeble attempt at a rebound. The sentiment was short-lived though as the markets caved in to another round of selling pressure
India's industrial output in November rose a slower-than-expected 2.7% from a year earlier, well below the previous month's revised annual growth of 11.3%, government data showed.
The leading losers on the BSE are RCom (weakened by 2.8% at Rs 133), L&T (shed 2.8% at Rs 1735) and Bajaj Auto (lost 2.5% at Rs 1273). Cipla, Tata Steel and Tata Power are the other major losers. The banking heavyweights are however, trading mixed; HDFC Bank is down 1.1% at Rs 2121 and SBI is down 0.9% at Rs 2586, while ICICI Bank has gained 0.7% at Rs 1030.
The stocks to buck the weak trend include Tata Motors (strengthened by 3.4% at Rs 1200) and select IT stocks. In the IT space, TCS has added 1.9% at Rs 1120 and Infosys has added 0.2% at Rs 3338.
The market breadth is negative. Out of 2803 stocks traded on the BSE. there are 1056 advancing stocks as against 1625 declines.
