The Indian equity indices concluded the day lower, with the Nifty hovering around 24,950 on Friday. Despite mixed signals from global markets, the trading session opened flat and remained rangebound, predominantly in slightly negative territory. The Nifty struggled to breach the 25,000 mark due to selling pressure in the auto, banking, and real estate sectors.
The trade ended with the Sensex falling by 230.05 points, or 0.28 per cent, to close at 81,381.36. Meanwhile, the Nifty declined by 34.20 points, or 0.14 per cent, to finish at 24,964.30.
The biggest losers on the BSE Sensex were TCS, M&M, ICICI Bank, Maruti, and Power Grid Corp. In contrast, the top gainers included HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra, JSW Steel, HUL and Infosys.
Sector-wise, the indices for auto, banking, power, and real estate fell by 0.5 per cent. Conversely, the IT, metals, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, and media sectors saw increases of 0.5 to 1 per cent. Additionally, the BSE midcap and smallcap indices rose by 0.4 per cent.
Ajit Mishra – SVP, Research at Religare Broking, said, “Markets traded lackluster on Friday and ended slightly lower amidst mixed cues. Early in the session, weak sentiment in IT major, TCS, after its earnings report impacted the mood, with further pressure from declines in private banking giants. However, selective buying in heavyweight stocks helped limit the decline as the day progressed. Sector-wise, the trend remained mixed—pharma and metal saw gains, while realty and banking finished in the red. Broader indices outperformed, gaining nearly half a per cent each.”
“The market has been facing selling pressure on every rise, though resilience in key heavyweights, particularly in the IT, pharma, and metal sectors, has slowed the downward momentum,” he added.
By the close of the previous trading session on Thursday, the Sensex had gained 144.31 points, or 0.18 per cent, finishing at 81,611.41. Meanwhile, the Nifty saw an uptick of 16.50 points, or 0.07 per cent, ending at 24,998.50.