Markets end in red on inflation, IIP data

Mumbai: A set of lacklustre economic data spoiled investor mood on Wednesday as benchmarks Sensex and Nifty gave in by surrendering all their early gains and ended in the red.

Participants got the chills as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) lowered India's economic growth forecast for 2017 -18 to 6.7 per cent from 7 per cent, citing lingering effect of domonetisation, transitory challenges to GST and weather- related risks to agriculture.

Government macro data were not favourable either, which showed November consumer inflation jumped to a 15-month high of 4.88 per cent and October industrial production growth hit a 3-month low of 2.2 per cent.

Investors also looked forward to the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting outcome later in the day. The BSE index changed sides many a time, which settled down by 174.95 points, or 0.53 per cent, at 33,053.04 -- a level last seen on December 7. The previous day's loss was 228 points.

The 50-share NSE Nifty failed to hang on to 10,200 by falling 47.20 points, or 0.46 per cent, at 10,192.95 after hovering between 10,169.85 and 10,296.55.

Among the losers, Cipla's loss stood at 2.13 per cent, the most for a Sensex component, followed by Adani Ports. SBI, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, L&T, Tata Steel and Power Grid ran up losses too.

Kotak Bank, TCS, ONGC, Dr Reddy's and Hindustan Unilever rose, cushioning the fall. The BSE realty index was the hardest hit by 2.27 per cent. Metal, capital goods and healthcare fell out of favour.

In sync with the overall trend, the broader markets also witnessed selling, with the mid-cap index declining 0.84 per cent and small-cap 0.81 per cent.