Indian shares down

Indian shares provisionally closed down 0.6 percent on Friday, giving up early gains after government data showed the country's economic output growth slowed sharply in December. The 30-share BSE index provisionally closed down 109.20 points at 17,721.73, with 24 of its components declining.
Foreign funds have invested more than $3.6 billion in local equities so far this year, data from the Securities and Exchange Board of India showed. In 2011, they were net sellers of about $500 million. "The liquidity has overtaken fundamentals," said Jagannadham Thunuguntla, head of research at SMC Global Securities in New Delhi. "The Fed, ECB and the RBI have turned out to be the cheer leaders for the market."
Tata Steel initially fell 4 percent in pre-open trade after the world's No 7 steelmaker reported late on Thursday its first quarterly net loss in more than two years. It later rebounded as much as 4.4 percent and led the gainers. The company expects one million tonne additional sales in the next financial year, its chief financial officer said.
Top telecoms operator Bharti Airtel gained 1.5 percent after losing 10 percent in the last three sessions, while construction major Larsen & Toubro rose 1.1 percent. Lenders ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank fell 0.6 percent and 0.5 percent respectively. The 50-share NSE index was up 0.15 percent at 5,420.70. In the broader market, gainers led losers by about 1.3:1, on volume of around 283 million shares.