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The Sensex, which had gained over 208 points in the last two trading sessions, fell by 82.06 points, or 0.46 per cent, to 17,748.69, after dismal industrial production hit the investor sentiment.
Factory output as measured by the Index of Industrial production grew by a mere 1.8 per cent in December, 2011, due to contraction in mining and capital goods sectors and a lower manufacturing sector growth.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee described the industrial output growth as "disappointing" and expressed hopes that the figures would show some improvement in the coming months.
Global markets also exhibited weak trends after European leaders held back a debt bailout for Greece pending a parliamentary vote on an austerity plan. Traders said companies cutting their earnings forecasts also weighed down on the sentiment.
The broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty also fell by 30.75 points, or 0.57 per cent, to 5,381.60 as investors booked profits from recent gains.
The two heaviest stock on the benchmark with a combined weightage of 20 per cent -- Reliance Industries and Infosys -- dropped by 1.23 per cent to Rs 842.15 and by 0.87 per cent to Rs 2,782.70, respectively.
However, Tata Steel gaining the most in more than a week surging 5.30 per cent to Rs 475 and Bajaj Auto by 2.10 per cent to Rs 1,736.55, saved the makret from any major fall.
Prominent losers in the index kitty sector were Hero MotoCorp, Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra and Mahindra, Gail India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, Larsen and Toubro, BHEL, Cipla and Hindalco Industries.
The realty sector index suffered the most by losing 0.93 per cent to 1,887.49, followed by oil and gas index by 0.80 to 8,770.65. Healthcare index lost 0.71 per cent to 6,347.10 and Banking index by 0.68 per cent to 11,986.92. P
Markets @ 10.42 AM (Reuters)
The BSE Sensex nudged higher on Friday as Tata Steel rebounded from an early slump, and investors bet on rising foreign fund investments to underpin the market.
Foreign funds have invested more than $3.6 billion in local equities so far this year, data from the Securities and Exchange Board of India showed. In 2011, they were net sellers of about $500 million.
"The liquidity has overtaken fundamentals," said Jagannadham Thunuguntla, head of research at SMC Global Securities in New Delhi. "The Fed, ECB and the RBI have turned out to be the cheer leaders for the market."
By 10:42 a.m. (0512 GMT), the main 30-share BSE index was up 0.19 percent at 17,865.17, ahead of December industrial output data due around 11 a.m. (0530 GMT).
Analysts expects the data to show output grew at a weaker annual rate of 3.4 percent from November's 5.9 percent.
Tata Steel initially fell 4 percent in pre-open trade after the world's No.7 steelmaker reported late on Thursday its first quarterly net loss in more than two years.
It later rebounded as much as 4.4 percent and led the gainers. The company expects one million tonne additional sales in the next financial year, its chief financial officer said.
Top telecoms operator Bharti Airtel gained 1.5 percent after losing 10 percent in the last three sessions, while construction major Larsen & Toubro rose 1.1 percent.
Lenders ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank fell 0.6 percent and 0.5 percent respectively.
The 50-share NSE index was up 0.15 percent at 5,420.70. In the broader market, gainers led losers by about 1.3:1, on volume of around 283 million shares.
Elsewhere in the region, the MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was down 1.2 percent, while Japan's Nikkei was down 0.26 percent.
STOCKS ON THE MOVE
Hindustan Petroleum Corp rose 7.4 percent after the state-run oil marketing company said after market closed on Thursday its quarterly profit jumped 13-fold.
Jindal Stainless fell 2.4 percent after it reported a December-quarter loss of 1.1 billion rupees.
GTL Infrastructure rose 3.3 percent after it posted a lower loss of 14.3 million rupees in the December-quarter, compared with a loss of 619.9 million rupees a year ago.
TOP 3 by volume
* Suzlon Energy on 7.2 million shares
* Tata Steel on 7.02 million shares
* Unitech on 4.05 million shares
Markets @ 09.00 AM (Reuters)
The BSE Sensex turned positive after opening lower on Friday as investors awaited for direction from December industrial output data, due around 0530 GMT.
Cement maker ACC rose 2 percent to 417.90 rupees after the company reported higher-than-expected 86 percent rise in December-quarter profit.
Tata Steel Ltd , which fell 4 percent in pre-open trade after reporting its first quarterly loss in more than two years, rebounded and was trading more than 1 percent higher.
At 9:18 a.m. (0348 GMT), the main 30-share BSE index was up 0.25 percent at 17,875.26, with two-thirds of its components in the green. The 50-share NSE index was up 0.14 percent at 5,420.15.
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