Stock Market: Sensex Slips 124 Points, Nifty Holds 17,850 On Weak Cues. Paytm Tanks 9 Per Cent

Stock update: On the 30-share Sensex platform, HCL, Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, ITC, Reliance, Infosys were the main the losers

The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, closed in the red during lacklustre session on Friday on negative cues.

The S&P BSE Sensex fell 124 points (0.2 per cent) to end at 60,682. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty50 closed at 17,857, down 37 points (0.2 per cent).

On the 30-share Sensex platform, HCL, Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, ITC, Reliance, Infosys were the main the losers. On the flip side, Tata Motors, L&T, PowerGrid, Airtel, HDFC Bank, SBI emerged winners.

Among individual shares, shares of Gautam Adani group companies continued to reel under pressure Adani Green Energy, Adani Transmission and Adani Total Gas hitting their respective 52-week lows on the BSE in Friday's intra-day trade.

Besides, shares of digital financial services firm One97 Communications, which owns Paytm, slipped 9 per cent to Rs 640 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in Friday's intra-day trade on the back of heavy volumes.

In the broader markets, the BSE SmallCap indices outshone its peers by rising 0.48 per cent, while the BSE MidCap index ended flat with a positive bias.

Sectorally, the Nifty Metal index slipped 2 per cent, while the Nifty Realty index gained 1.36 per cent.

In the previous session on Thursday, the S&P BSE Sensex closed at 60,806, up 142 points. On the other hand, NSE Nifty50 closed at 17,894, rising 22 points.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Shanghai and Hong Kong ended with losses, while Tokyo and Seoul settled with gains.

Equity exchanges in Europe were trading with losses in the afternoon session. The US markets had ended significantly lower in the overnight session.

Meanwhile, the rupee depreciated 4 paise to close at 82.55 (provisional) against the US dollar on Friday, tracking a muted trend in domestic equities and firm crude oil prices. Forex traders said the rupee consolidated in a narrow range amid risk aversion in global markets.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 82.61 against the American currency and touched a low of 82.64 and a high of 82.34 intra-day. It finally settled at 82.55 against the greenback, down 4 paise from its previous close of 82.51.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures advanced 2.22 per cent to $86.38 per barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets on Thursday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 144.73 crore, according to exchange data.