Weak GDP growth estimate dents market; Nifty down 20 points

The NSE benchmark CNX-Nifty today lost 20 points after a weak economic growth forecast for FY13 dampened investor sentiment and raised fresh concerns about the health of Indian economy. Dashing hopes for a turnaround, India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate is expected to slide further to a decade's low of 5 per cent in the current fiscal. The Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) projection is much lower than GDP growth estimates made by the Government and RBI recently. The CSO figure came just a week after the apex bank reduced short-term lending rate, or repo, and also cash reserve ratio (CRR) by 25 basis points each late last month to support economic growth. After a cautious start in the backdrop of weak global sentiments and ahead of the release of GDP estimate by CSO, the key index rebounded to trade in the green on hopes of better growth forecast on the back of recent reform measures. The market dropped after the GDP growth estimate was released, but the fall was limited due to low-level buying support on expectations of strong policy measures from the Government in forthcoming Union Budget to revive growth. Financials, oil & gas, pharma, infra, metal and FMCG counters witnessed most of the selling activity, while tech and auto scrips attracted good buying interest. Globally, Asian stocks were mostly lower, giving up some of their overnight gains ahead of ECB and BoE policy meets amid political developments in Spain and Italy. The 50-share Nifty oscillated between a high of 5,978.50 and a low of 5,927.60 before ending at 5,938.80, a fall of 20.40 points, or 0.34 per cent, over the last close. Reliance Infra, Sesa Goa, Bank of Baroda, Ambuja Cement, NTPC, Gail, Cipla, Tata Power, UltraTech and Bharti Airtel were the top losers from the Nifty pack. The gainers included Power Grid, IDFC, M&M, ACC, TCS, Tata Motors, Grasim, Coal India, HDFC and JP Associates. Turnover in cash segment declined to Rs 11,249.57 crore from Rs 11,500.09 crore yesterday. A total of 6,739.43 lakh shares changed hands in 59,13,118 trades. The market capitalisation stood at Rs 67,17,863 crore.