The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex fell 49 points in choppy trade today after the Prime Minister's key adviser scaled down the GDP growth estimate and said a tight monetary policy should continue until the rupee stabilises.
Sectors such as consumer durables and IT declined, while realty, power and capital goods stocks advanced. ITC, Infosys and Wipro dragged the Sensex lower as 11 of the 30 shares on the index fell.
The index opened weak on feeble Asian trends and moved erratically between 19,675.68 and 19,899.37 before ending at 19,732.36, a drop of 49.12 points or 0.25 per cent. Yesterday, it had dipped 215.57 points or 1.08 per cent.
Over the week, however, the index added about 463 points, or 2.4 per cent, gaining for the third week in a row.
The broader Nifty index on the National Stock Exchange ended almost flat at 5,850.60, down by 0.10 point. The SX40 index on the MCX-SX ended at 11,706.18, down 28.16 points.
"Indecision was seen due to profit-booking at higher levels, after a strong rally in the week," said Rakesh Goyal, senior vice president at Bonanza Portfolio Ltd. "Going ahead next week, the RBI's monetary policy is coming, wherein rate cut hopes are minimal due to pressure on the rupee."
The Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council cut the nation's GDP growth forecast to 5.3 per cent for FY14 from an earlier estimate of 6.4 per cent.
The Reserve Bank of India should continue its tight monetary policy until stability in the rupee value is achieved, Prime Minister's key economic advisor C Rangarajan said today while releasing the Economic Outlook for 2013-14.
Concerns over growth and the monetary policy outweighed positive economic data that showed industrial output expanded 2.6 per cent in July after two months of contraction and retail inflation easing to 9.52 per cent in August.
