Market may open flat to slightly higher.

Key benchmark indices edged lower for the fourth straight session on Friday, 11 May 2012 after the latest data showed a surprise contraction in industrial production in March 2012. The BSE Sensex lost 127.07 points or 0.77% to settle at 16,292.98, its lowest level since 16 January 2012.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 158.57 crore on Friday, 11 May 2012, as per provisional figures. FIIs bought shares worth Rs 317.42 crore on Thursday, 10 May 2012.

The latest data showed industrial production contracted 3.5% from a year earlier in March as manufacturing output shrank, deepening worries of a slowdown in the economy. The last time industrial output contracted was in October 2011, when production fell 5%. Manufacturing output, which has a 75.5% weight in the index of industrial production, contracted 4.4% from a year earlier in March. It had risen 3.9% on year in February. Capital goods output shrank 21.3%. However, electricity production increased 2.7% from a year earlier in March. For the year ended March 31, industrial output grew a muted 2.8%, against an 8.2% increase in the previous year, government data showed.



Asian shares were mostly lower Monday, as concerns about Europe's debt woes worked to offset positive sentiment over China's weekend move to loosen monetary policy. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, China, Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and Taiwan were down by 0.01% to 0.79%. Singapore's Straits Times rose 0.17%.

China has cut the amount of cash that banks must set aside as reserves for the third time in six months, pumping money into the financial system to support lending. Reserve ratios will fall 50 basis points, effective May 18, the People's Bank of China said.

The election in Greece left the country without the leadership needed for the cost-cutting it's undertaking to conform with the lending terms imposed by international creditors, with the nation now likely headed back to the polls.