Nifty drifts lower after hitting 5K...

The benchmark index moved lower after hitting 5000 levels in the noon trade. Nifty hit the important level of 5,000 for the first time since May 23, 2008, taking 326 trading sessions to regain the important level.
The index is up almost 90 per cent from its March lows. The Nifty was almost unchanged at 4,964, up 5 points, after hitting 5003 at the day’s high. A 4.5 per cent fall in RIL was dragging down the index after Petroleum Trust sold 1.5 crore shares at Rs 2,125 per share.
The Sensex advanced 20 points at 16,697, off its day’s high of 16,820.
The wholesale price index turned positive after 13 weeks of consecutive decline, with inflation for the week ended September 5 rising 0.12 per cent from a year earlier. It declined 0.12 per cent in the earlier week. The rise in inflation also dented investor sentiment.
Samir Arora, fund manager at Helios Capital Mgmt, said that he expects a correction likely to take place in markets at current levels. But it is unlikely to be a sharp one, he added.
Among the frontline stocks, Bharti and ACC were up over 3 per cent. IT stocks TCS and Wipro were up over 2 per cent.
Asian markets were mostly up after US stocks ended higher following an upbeat report on industrial production raised hopes that the world’s largest economy is strengthening.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 108 points to another high for the year. It was the market's eighth gain in nine days.
The promising report from the Federal Reserve on industrial production came a day after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said that the recession was likely over. The central bank's report that industrial activity surged 0.8 per cent in August topped expectations. The Fed also said the improvement in production for July was twice what it had initially reported.
Hong Kong and Chinese markets had advanced over 1 per cent while Japan’s benchmark index was up close to 1 per cent.