NEW DELHI: Defying the prevailing gloom in the market, shares of Escorts and JSW Steel hit fresh 52-week highs on NSE in Friday's trade.

Shares of Bajaj Auto also hit fresh 52-week high after it reported a 46 per cent jump in total sales at 3,53,147 units in January against 2,41,917 units in the same month last year. However, the shares declined as soon as it reported today a less-than-expected 3 per cent rise in December quarter profit.

Shares of Escorts rose after it, on Thursday, reported a jump of 47.1 per cent in total domestic sales for the month of January. Moreover, the company is expected to gain as the government decided to boost agriculture.

Over 12 stocks hit fresh 52-week highs on NSE in Friday's trade which included ABB India, TTK Healthcare, Zenith Birla (India) and Stampede Capital also.

Benchmark indices kept trading in the negative zone. The NSE Nifty50 index was trading 169 points down at 10,848, while the BSE Sensex was down 533 points down at 35,373 around 2 pm (IST).

In the Nifty 50 index, ITC, ONGC, Aurobindo Pharma, Sun Pharma and Tata Consultancy Services were among the top gainers.

However, Bajaj Finance, Maruti Suzuki, UltraTech Cement and Reliance Industries remained among top losers.