A buoyant start notwithstanding, stocks drifted lower on the major Indian bourses this morning with investors turning cautious ahead of release of industrial production data for July. There was a recovery of sort minutes before the announcement, but the market tumbled into the red despite production numbers falling in line with expectations.

And then, it was an extremely choppy ride for the market till about half an hour to go for the closing bell. Stocks from information technology and PSU sectors were seen attracting attention but several blue chip stocks from other sectors were struggling for support. A mixed close in Asian markets and a none too positive trend on the European bourses rendered price movements quite sluggish for a better part of the afternoon.

Finally, thanks to some spirited buying at some blue chip counters, the market broke free from the negative zone and extended its winning run to a sixth successive session.

The Sensex, which opened on a buoyant note and rose to 16,337.98 in early trade, tumbled to a low of 16,130.32 past noon, but ended the day with a modest gain of 47.44 points or 0.29% at 16,264.30. The Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange closed at 4829.55, netting a gain of 10.15 points or 0.21%. In intra-day trades, the Nifty touched a high of 4856.15 and a low of 4791.55.

According to the data released by the government around noon, industrial output rose 6.8% in July, as compared to a rise of 6.4% in the corresponding month last year. The manufacturing sector grew 6.8% as against 6.9% and the capital goods segment saw a growth of 2%, a sharp declines from a 17.9% in the previous year. The mining sector saw a growth of 9.9% against 2.8% year-on-year, industrial growth was pegged at 4.6%, as compared to 5.6% last year.

Hindalco (up nearly 6%), ICICI Bank (2.5%), State Bank of India (2.1%), Larsen & Toubro (1.65%), Wipro (1.55%) Infosys Technologies (1.4%), Bharti Airtel (1.1%) and HDFC (1.05%) rallied sharply today. Tata Consultancy Services and HDFC Bank posted modest gains.

Sterlite Industries ended lower by 2.7%. DLF, Hindustan Unilever, Tata Motors, ACC, Jaiprakash Associates, Reliance Communications, Maruti Suzuki, Hero Honda and Grasim Industries lost 1% - 2.5%. ITC, Reliance Infrastructure, Tata Power, ONGC and Reliance Industries also ended on a weak note today.

Jindal Steel, BPCL, Idea Cellular, Unitech, Suzlon Energy and Reliance Power were some of the prominent losers in the Nifty index. Ranbaxy Laboratories, Nalco, Punjab National Bank, HCL Technologies, Power Grid Corporation and ABB closed on a firm note.

MMTC (18.5%), Godrej Industries (11.85%) and Central Bank of India (10.2%) closed with hefty gains. Bosch, Allahabad Bank, Gujarat NRE Coke, Procter & Gamble, Apollo Hospitals, Indian Overseas Bank, UCO Bank, GE Shipping, Andhra Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, GVK Power, Syndicate Bank, Indian Bank, Bajaj Auto and Hindustan Copper also had a nice ride up the charts today.

The market breadth was negative right through the day. Out of 2868 stocks traded on BSE today, 1717 stocks declined. 1070 stocks closed with gains and 81 stocks ended flat.

The volume of business dropped down notably. The turnover on NSE, at Rs 17,119.67 crore, was lower by nearly Rs 2,500 crore from a turnover of Rs 19,599.45 crore the exchange had recorded in the previous session.