The Nifty has to break through today’s days range for further direction

On a marginally lower volume of 83.40 crore shares on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the Nifty broke the trend of five days up move. The BSE 30-share Sensex opened in the positive at 20,046 and hit intra-day high of 20,052. The Nifty opened at 5,931 that was also its intra-day high level. For the rest of the trading session, both the indices traded in the negative zone. In the last hour of trading, the benchmarks hit their respective intra-day lows and tried to recover before ending in the negative. The Sensex hit an intra-day low of 19,676 and closed at 19,782 (down 216 points or 1.08%). The Nifty hit an intra-day low of 5,816 and closed at 5,851 (down 62 points or 1.06%).

Except for FMCG (up 0.74%); Realty (up 0.52%) and Pharma (up 0.12%) all the other indices on the NSE closed in the negative. The top five losers among indices were Metal (2.61%); Bank Nifty (2.03%); MNC (1.95%); Auto (1.66%) and PSE (1.66%).

Of the 50 stocks on the Nifty, 12 ended in the green. The top five gainers were Tata Power (3.80%); IDFC (2.66%); ITC (2.32%); Gail (2.03%) and Ranbaxy (1.18%). The top five losers were Jaiprakash Associates (11.98%); IndusInd Bank (5.65%); Tata Steel (4.48%); BHEL (4.12%) and ONGC (3.98%).

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan on 11 September 2013, said India's slowing economy and its massive current account and fiscal deficits are not structural problems and can be fixed with modest reforms. Read: India does not have structural problems: Raghuram Rajan 

After the close of markets, the union government unveiled the data on consumer price index for urban and rural India for August 2013 and industrial production for July 2013. After contracting for two consecutive months, the industrial output grew at a four-month high of 2.6% in July against contraction of 0.1% in same month last year, according to the official data released by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. This will pump some confidence in the economy as the IIP fell 1.1% in the first quarter of 2013-14 against a decline of 0.2% in the corresponding period of 2012-13.

The annual consumer price inflation eased marginally in August to 9.52% in line with expectations from 9.64 in July, government data showed on Thursday. Food prices for consumers also eased to an annual 11.06% in August from 11.24% in July.

The power ministry has made a proposal to mix imported and locally produced natural gas and supply it to electricity producers at a subsidized price.

The government will decide on raising the retail prices of diesel and cooking gas (LPG) in a few weeks, the oil secretary said on Thursday, in a bid to cut the biggest item in its import bill and support the local currency. While, on the other hand, petrol prices may be cut by as much as Rs1-1.50 per litre next week on falling international oil rates and appreciating rupee.

Except for Nikkei 225 (down 0.26%) all the other Asian indices ended in the green. Shanghai Composite, top gainer, up 0.64%.

Bank Indonesia on Thursday raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point, while central banks in the Philippines, South Korea and New Zealand all kept rates on hold. Indonesia's central bank Bank Indonesia raised its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 7.25% on Thursday. Bank Indonesia also raised the key money market Fasbi rate to 5.5%.

US indices had a mix performance on Wednesday with Dow rising by 136 points but the tech-heavy Nasdaq falling by 4 points. The US and Russia will meet today to discuss a plan for Syria to surrender its chemical weapons, potentially averting a military strike. Among the first steps US wants is, one of the US officials said, for the government of Bashar al-Assad to quickly make a complete, public declaration of its chemical weapons stockpiles as a prelude to inspecting and neutralizing them.

The UK’s unemployment rate measured by International Labour Organization methods declined to 7.7% from 7.8% in the second quarter, the Office for National Statistics said.

Italy's industrial production fell unexpectedly in July, declining 1.1% on the month in seasonally-adjusted terms, as output fell in all the main sectors apart from energy, national statistics institute Istat said Thursday. Industrial output in the euro zone's third-largest economy fell 4.3% in July from the same month a year earlier, using workday-adjusted terms for the annualized figure, Istat said. This marks the 23rd consecutive decline. June's monthly figure was revised lower to a 0.2% increase from the earlier estimate of a 0.3% increase, Istat said.

French consumer prices rose in August from July, led by an increase in the price of clothes and shoes, statistics showed Thursday. The consumer price index rose 0.5% in August from the previous month. Prices were 0.9% higher than in August 2012, France's statistics bureau Insee said. European indices were trading in the red and the US Futures too were trading in the negative.