Tempering of GDP growth expectations for FY12 and a mixed bag of quarterly numbers from India Inc saw the Sensex and Nifty close lower than Wednesday.
In fact the benchmark indices recovered their losses compared to the gap down start they had in the morning.
The Nifty closed at 5,091.90, down 47.25 points, while the Sensex closed at 16,936.89, down 148.45 points.
“We expect the next four to six quarters to be painful for corporate India as they grapple with their cost structure, reduction in demand and re-working their operating cycle,” said the Head of Research of an Indian brokerage.
Volatility was up 6.44 per cent at 25.60. Top gainers on the Nifty were Tata Steel. HCL Tech, Jindal Steel, Bharti Airtel and Maruti while HDFC, IDFC, DLF, JP Associates and Reliance Power were the top losers.
Though the Nifty recouped nearly 50 per cent of its losses at the end of the day’s trading, nearly 75 per cent of the Nifty constituents ended in the red on the NSE today.
The major gainer was Infosys which was up by Rs 55 to close at Rs 2,747. The stock had hit a low of Rs 2,687.55 before recovering. Maruti gained Rs 10.40 to close at Rs 1,076.20 and SBI was up by Rs 15.55 to end the day at Rs 1,933.90.
Among the major losers were Grasim which closed at Rs 2,317 with a loss of Rs 36.50, Hero Motocorp that shed Rs 37.55 to close at Rs 2,029, Bajaj Auto that lost Rs 33.95 to close at Rs 1,602.70, ICICI Bank which shed Rs 26.45 to close at Rs 877.70 and HDFC that ended at Rs 646.30 with a loss of Rs 27.65.