The key benchmark indices edged lower in afternoon trade despite better-than-expected GDP figures. The BSE 30-share Sensex was down over 100 points while the Nifty dropped 1.5 per cent. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak as the battle between the police and terrorists was still going on at Nariman House and at Oberoi Trident in Nariman Point more than 36 hours after the terror attacks in Mumbai on Wednesday.
The terror attacks weighed on the sentiments which has already been hit by heavy outflow of foreign capital as a result of the global financial crisis which has hit markets worldwide.
Yet, the market bounced back from an initial slide after the global rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) said the terror attacks were an isolated case and that it does not expect any negative implications on India's macro economic activities or the government's fiscal position from the attacks.
India's economy grew at a better than expected 7.6% in the September 2008 quarter from a year earlier, but eased from the previous quarter's 7.9%, data released by the government a little while ago showed.
Asian markets rebounded from their early lows and were trading mixed today. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea were up by between 0.15% and 2.21%. However, indices in China and Singapore were down 1.97% and 0.69% respectively.
Closer home, volatility may remain high as the derivative contracts for the November 2008 series expire today, 28 November 2008. As per reports, the Nifty rollover of positions from November 2008 series to December 2008 series stood at 54% while marketwide rollover was 60%, by end of trading on Wednesday. The stock exchanges had to postpone expiry of November 2008 contracts as the markets were shut on Thursday after the terror attacks. The November contracts were to expire on Thursday.
Hotel and airline stocks witnessed heavy selling following the Mumbai terror attacks. Indian Hotels was down over 14 per cent while Taj GVK lost over 4.5 per cent.
Among the airline stocks, SpiceJet, Jet and Kingfisher have lost over 5.5 per cent each.
IT pivotals gained on a weaker rupee. India's largest software services exporter TCS rose 3.8% and was the top gainer from the Sensex pack.