Market ends lower, Nifty closes below 25,000

Photo: Representative Picture (IANS)


The benchmark indices ended lower on Friday amid mixed global cues.

Market opened flat and traded in range. Nifty failed to cross 25,000 amid selling seen in the auto, bank, realty stocks.

At close, the Sensex was down 230.05 points or 0.28% at 81,381.36, and the Nifty was down 34.20 points or 0.14% at 24,964.30.

On Nifty, the top gainers were Trent, Hindalco Industries, HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra and ONGC. M&M, TCS, ICICI Bank, Cipla and Power Grid Corp were on the losing side.

Indian rupee fell below 84 against the US dollar for the first time today. Rupee dropped to a low of 84.0525 to the dollar and was last quoted at 84.05, down from 83.9675 in the previous session.

Among the sectors, auto, bank, power, realty indices were down 0.5% each, while IT, metal, oil & gas, pharma, media were up 0.5-1%. BSE midcap and smallcap indices rose 0.4% each.

Over 200 stocks touched their 52-high on the BSE, including, Usha Martin, JM Financial, Mankind Pharma, Ipca Labs, MCX India, Divis Labs, Just Dial, Page Industries, Gujarat Alkalies, Glenmark Pharma, CG Power, HCL Technologies, Dixon Technologies, Gujarat Fluorochemicals, Century Plyboard, Symphony, Hitachi Energy, among others.

Among the individual stocks, Mahindra & Mahindra, TCS, ICICI Bank, Cipla, Maruti Suzuki India, Power Grid Corporation, Adani Enterprises, and Axis Bank all ended with over 1% drop.

Shares of Trent, Hindalco Industries, HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra, and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation all recorded gains of up to 2.4%.

Shares of metal companies surged upto 3.5% in hopes of more stimulus from the Chinese government.

Nifty Midcap 100 index ended this week with a gain of 1.26%, closing at 59,212. Nifty Smallcap 100 index finished the week up 1.13%, reclaiming the 19,000 level and reaching 19,008.

The uptick in the US 10-year yield due to the unexpected rise in US core inflation and caution ahead of the result season added layers of sentiment in the market.

Inflation and a softening labour market amplified the debate over whether the Federal Reserve will opt for a smaller rate cut next month or even a pause.