The markets had another dull session of trade. Mirroring the tediously repetitive behavour seen in recent times, the Sensex moved in a tight range of around 100 points during the day before ending virtually unchanged at 17,166, down one point and the Nifty closed at 5,137, up three points. The mid-cap and small-cap indices ended marginally lower.
Meanwhile, IIP rose 16.7 percent in January compared to the revised record growth of 17.6 percent seen in December. Manufacturing output grew by an annual 17.9 percent in January, as against 18.5 percent recorded in the previous month.
Referring to the industrial output numbers, the finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said that while the high IIP growth indicated fast recovery in manufacturing, we would have to wait for one more month's IIP data for clear signals.
And Deputy chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia exuded optimism that India would achieve 8.5% growth in the next fiscal year and attract good foreign fund inflows.
Among the Sensex gainers of the day, Hindalco strengthened 3.2% at Rs 165, while Bharti Airtel and Tata Power added 1.7% each at Rs 299 and Rs 1352 respectively. ITC, M&M and Sterlite were the other major gainers.
And index heavyweight Reliance Industries was up 0.4% at Rs 1021.
On the other hand, Hindustan Unilever extended its previous day's losses by another 4% on concerns surrounding a renewed price war in the detergents category. The FMCG giant closed to Rs 219, just shy of its 52-week low of Rs 215. Sun Pharma shed 2% at Rs 1651 and Reliance Communication declined 2% at Rs 157.
Banking stocks ended largely in the green despite fears that surging industrial production may force the central bank to hike the key interest rates by 50 basis points in April. ICICI Bank ended at Rs 936, higher by 0.5%, and SBI closed marginally up at Rs 2045. However, HDFC Bank closed 1.4% lower at Rs 1800.
The market breadth turned weak at close. Out of 2,921 stocks traded on the BSE, there were 1,037 advancing stocks as against 1804 declines.
Hindalco topped the value and volume charts on the BSE.
Hindalco led the value charts on the BSE with a total turnover of Rs 179.30 crore. This was followed by Reliance Industries (Rs 95.60 crore), Wipro (Rs 67.18 crore), SBI (Rs 54.51 crore) and ICICI Bank (Rs 53.70 crore).
Hindalco also saw the highest volumes of 11.01 million shares. It was followed by Hindustan Unilever (1.65 million), DLF (1.31 million), Jaiprakash Associates (1.28 million) and Reliance Communication (1.01 million).
