The Nifty and the Sensex closed in the red on Friday led by banking and realty sector stocks.
The Nifty closed at 5,873 down 36 points while the Sensex closed at 19,428, down 143 points.
Market-men are expecting a rate cut from the RBI on March 19 to revive growth.
“Although headline WPI inflation in Feb ’13 surprised on the upside, the internals were reassuring. ‘Core’ inflation was way below the RBI’s comfort level and the ‘new’ problem variables for RBI look less vulnerable. We stick with our higher than consensus Repo rate cut call of 50 bps by May ’13, with the first 25 bps coming in the March policy review,” said Deepali Bhargava, Chief India Economist, Espirito Santo Securities.
Volatility was up 3.41 per cent and the volatility index India Vix closed at 15.16.
Siemens, Asian Paints, Lupin, Ranbaxy and M&M were the top five Nifty gainers while DLF, ICICI Bank,Tata Motors, GAIL and JP Associates were the top losers.