Domestic equity markets witnessed yet another lackluster day of trade on Friday as lower-than-expected Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data weakened investors' sentiments and they opted to take some profit off the table. The day started on the positive note underpinned by the good gains in the Asian markets. Expectations of big surprise on the IIP front helped the S&P CNX Nifty to touch fresh high for 2009 but the buoyant mood on the Dalal Street turned subdued soon after the IIP data, released around noon, failed to meet expectations. Besides, double digit growth in IIP at 10.3% for the month of October fuelled concerns of sooner than expected corrective steps from the central bank. This led to rate sensitive banking and realty stocks taking most of the beating from the bears while capital goods, power and auto stocks showed some resilience in trade. Telecom stocks also saw some profit booking after reporting good gains for past few trading sessions. New listing - Cox & Kings (India) was star of the day, closing up by about 30%. Finally, the 30-share BSE Sensex dropped 70.28 points or 0.41% to settle at 17,119.03, while the 50-share S&P CNX Nifty contracted 17.35 points or 0.34% to end at 5117.30.

The US markets closed mixed on Friday; on the one hand Dow and S&P 500 were able to move up by about half a percent while the Nasdaq declined marginally. There was a slew of good news which kept the markets momentum high. The government's retail report showed good growth in retail sales last month, the 1.3 % increase was more than double the gain that analysts had forecast. The Dow Jones industrial average was up by 65.67 points, or 0.63%, to 10,471.50. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 4.06 points, or 0.37%, to 1,106.41, while the Nasdaq composite index declined marginally by 0.55 points, or 0.03%, to 2,190.31.

Crude prices were unable to get any respite on Friday and declined for eighth consecutive day. Prices hit two-month lows as the dollar gained strength. Though there was positive statement from International Energy Agency (IEA) which said that global oil demand will rise next year more than previously expected, but then even crude declined. Benchmark crude for January delivery gave up 67 cents to settle at $69.87 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude for January delivery added 2 cents to settle at $71.88 on the ICE Futures exchange.

The Indian rupee closed with gains on Friday. The domestic currency made a good start of the day tracking the higher regional stock markets but a lower than expected IIP numbers left the rupee a bit amused. Finally the rupees closed at 46.53/54, 12 paise stronger compared to its Thursday's close of 46.65.All the Asian currencies remained strong against dollar in the day's trade.

The FII on Thursday were the net sellers in the equity segment with gross buying of Rs 2105.80 crore against gross sell of Rs 2402.70 crore, while in the debt segment they were the net buyers with a gross purchase of Rs 210.90 crore against gross sales of Rs 107.70 crore.

The US markets closed mixed on Friday, indices got support from the good retail report of government, also the US House of Representatives passed the financial reforms bill to revamp the financial rules in the country. But the Asian markets don't seem to be impressed by the US efforts and almost all the indices have made a start in negative terrain,some of the indices are  even down by more than 1%. The domestic markets, despite a good start closed with losses on last trading day, investors were not impressed with the IIP figures and went for profit booking as it came in line to the general expectations. The mood today is likely to be of cautious to soft start though in later hours some recovery can be seen with stock specific movements.

Support and Resistance: S&P CNX Nifty and BSE Sensex

                                                          Nifty Top volumes

• Unitech is planning to aggressively ramp up its lagging construction activities in the next two fiscals to keep pace with the sales growth.
• Suzlon Energy is planning to sell its remaining 26% stake in Hansen Transmissions, the Belgium-based wind-gearbox maker.
• Bharti Airtel entered a contract with several other operators to build and operate the Southeast Asia Japan Cable system, an international submarine cable system.
• BIFR has accepted Tata Steels' Rs 100-crore revival proposal for ailing cable manufacturer INCAB.
• Wipro Technologies will set up its second campus in West Bengal on the outskirts of the city Rajarhat.

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