9:00AM New York, 6:30PM Mumbai – Stocks in India fell after inflation rose, weakness in retail investors, and jittery IPO market.

Market Sentiment

India markets closed flat on Friday with the benchmark index Sensex declining 0.4% or 62.04 to 17,464.89. In the broader market, Nifty was down 0.3% or 12.9 at 5,120.35.

Reliance Industries and State Bank of India rebounded from the lows of the day. Realty, metal and consumer durable stocks dropped. Hindustan Unilever and ITC rose.

Of the BSE shares, 506 stocks advanced, 2,259 declined, and 37 stocks remained unchanged. Among the Sensex index shares, 16 stocks gained while the rest fell.

IT stocks rebounded while real estate, metal and banking stocks fell. HCL tech, Satyam Computers, Roltas India, and Infosys advanced more than 4.7% each.

HDFC, ICICI Bank, DLF, HDFC Bank, L&T and Tata Steel led the decliners in the index.

Of the National Stock Exchange CNX Nifty 50 stocks, VSNL, SAIL, Tata Power Company, Cairn India and Reliance Energy declined more than 4.3% each.

Realty developers Kolte-Patil, Purvankara Projects, Omaxe, Parsvnath Developers and Housing Development Infra fell more than 2.8% each.

IPO News

Emaar MGF Land pulled its offering after Wockhardt Hospitals withdrew its offering yesterday.

Daily turnover of the BSE stood at 6,334 crore rupees and on the National Stock Exchange was at 13,650 crore rupees.

Reliance Natural Resources led the most active with a turnover of 573.83 crore rupees on BSE followed Reliance Energy, Reliance Industries,, Reliance Petroleum and Reliance Communications.


Economic News

Annual inflation based on the wholesale price index rose to 4.11% in the week ended 26 January 2008 from 3.93% in the week ended 19 January 2008.


Gainers and Decliners

Hindustan Unilever rose 6.1% to 211.75 rupees, ONGC rose 0.9% to 997.25 rupees, ITC surged 2.5% to 196.95 rupees while Ranbaxy Laboratories rose 2.3% to 382.3 rupees.
HDFC fell 4.47% to 2,796.20 rupees.

Infosys traded up 4.8% to 1,551.35 rupees, Satyam Computer Services surged 4.9% to 410 rupees, Tata Consultancy Services climbed 1.9% to 899.95 rupees and Wipro jumped 3.1% to 422.45 rupees.

Steel Authority of India fell 4.6% to 200.6 rupees, Sterlite Industries was down 2.8% to 737.55 rupees, Tata Steel shed 2.7% to 750.40 rupees and Hindalco Industries slumped 1.7% to 160.5 rupees.