Markets trim early losses led by auto shares

Key share indices recovered from their day lows, trimming most of the early losses, led by auto shares.

At 11:50 AM, the 30-share Sensex which touched a low of 15,619 so far was at  15,694 down 34 points      and the  50-share Nifty which touched a low of 4,672 so far was at 4,694 down 12 points .  

Meanwhile, government data Thursday showed food inflation for the week ended December 17 fell to 0.42% compared to 1.81% in the previous week.

In the Sensex pack Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors were both up 1% each. In the banking pack, State Bank of India was up 0.5%.

Other gainers include, ITC, Hindalco and Coal India which were up between 0.2-0.8%.

Reliance Industries continues to witness selling pressure and was down 1.3% after the company reported lower gas output from KG-D6 gas field.

Infosys was down 0.5% while Jindal Steel & Power was down on recent reports that the power ministry is proposing to cap tariffs for power supplied from projects that have captive coal blocks and/or assured supply fuel supply from Coal India.

Among other shares, Fame India has rallied 11% to Rs 54, extending its 43% surge in past two trading sessions. The company engaged in movies and entertainment business may report healthy net profit growth as Indian cinema reported robust growth in 2011 after a dismal 2010. The domestic revenues of Bollywood have surged 33% to Rs 1,925 crore this year, up from Rs 1,450 crore in 2010, media reports suggests.

The BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices are trading marginally lower.

The market breadth was marginally weak with 1,175 declines and 1,010 advances.