After six hours of lacklustre trading, the domestic equity benchmarks ended on a flat note with a positive bias on Friday. The S&P BSE Sensex ended 14.23 points or 0.04 per cent higher at 38,854.55 while the broader NSE Nifty rose 15.20 points or 0.13 per cent to close at 11,464.45.

SBI was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, gaining over 2 per cent, followed by TCS, Tech Mahindra, HUL, Bajaj Finance, Kotak Bank and Titan.

On the other hand, IndusInd Bank (plunged nearly 2 per cent), PowerGrid, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints and HDFC Bank were among the laggards.

Of the 30 constituents, 10 were successful to end with gains while remain 20 declined.

On a weekly basis, Sensex and Nifty added 1.29 per cent and 1.15 per cent respectively.

On the broader market front, the S&P BSE MidCap and SmallCap ended with gains by 0.58 per cent and 0.52 per cent respectively.

The markets remained cautious on adverse news-flows of COVID-19 vaccine trials, Sino-India geopolitical tensions and sell-off in US equities, said Sanjeev Zarbade, VP PCG Research, Kotak Securities.

During the talks between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Thursday evening, India and China agreed on a five-point roadmap including quick disengagement of troops and avoiding any action that could escalate tensions for resolving the four-month-long face-off in eastern Ladakh.

Foreign portfolio investors sold equities worth USD 528 million over the past five trading sessions while domestic institutional investors sold USD 109 million worth of stocks, Zarbade stated.

“While the market is not in a bubble zone, we note that global cues (US markets on correction mode) have started to turn negative and FIIs have turned sellers along with domestic mutual funds,” he added.

Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul ended on a positive note, while stock exchanges in Europe saw a mixed trend.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.35 per cent lower at USD 39.92 per barrel.

In the forex market, the rupee depreciated 7 paise to close at 73.53 against the US dollar.