It turned out to be another weak session for the Indian stock indices Sensex and the Nifty50, as investors continued to take profits at several counters on Friday, amid a lack of market moving catalysts both from global and domestic front.
A somewhat disappointing batch of economic data limited Wall Street's upside on Thursday, and most of the markets across Asia and Europe stayed quite sluggish today.
Activity was mostly stock specific, with investors tracking quarterly earnings reports and other corporate news for direction.
The BSE benchmark Sensex ended down 111.34 points or 0.37% at 29,918.40, after declining to a low of 29,848.21 intraday. The index edged up marginally in early trades to 30,067.64. The Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange, which declined to 9282.25, ended at 9304.05, recording a loss of 38.10 points or 0.41%.
In the forex market, the rupee was trading at 64.32 against the U.S. dollar around late afternoon, down 17 paise from its previous close of 64.15 a dollar.
Realty, telecom and FMCG stocks were the prominent losers. Consumer durables and IT stocks too traded weak.Metal stocks had a good outing. Select automobile stocks recorded notable gains. Bank, capital goods, oil and power stocks ended mostly flat.
ITC declined 2.2%. HDFC and HDFC Bank ended lower by 1.9% and 1.6%, respectively. Tata Consultancy Services, Hindustan Unilever, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Industries, Larsen & Toubro and Cipla lost 0.7% - 1.2%. Infosys and Wipro declined marginally.
Bharti Infratel ended 2.7% down. Tech Mahindra, Ambuja Cements, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank and BPCL declined 1.4% - 2%.
ONGC ended nearly 4% up on reports that the company made 23 oil and gas discoveries in the fiscal year ended March 31 as a record number of wells drilled helped it uncover new reserves. ONGC's Chairman and Managing Director DK Sarraf said that the company is planning to bring on stream its Kutch offshore basin, the country's eighth new basin, over the next 2-3 years.
Maruti Suzuki hit a new all-time high and ended 2.2% up with strong results and good dividend announcement lifting the stock.
Bank of Baroda gained 3.5%, State Bank of India ended 2.7% up, Hindalco gained 2.2%, Bosch, Asian Paints, ICICI Bank, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Tata Motors DVR, Adani Ports, Hero Motocorp and GAIL india ended higher by 1% - 1.7%.
Coal India, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Tata Motors, HCL Technologies, Eicher Motors, Tata Steel and Axis Bank also ended on a positive note.
Out of 3001 stocks traded on BSE, 1396 stocks advanced. 1472 stocks declined and 133 stocks ended flat.
