The stock market was lackluster in trade on Friday as the BSE Sensex traded within a band of 470 points through the day, before ending at 71,595, up 167 points or 0.23% while the Nifty50 ended shut shop at 21,783, up 65 points.
The mid and small-cap indices dropped 1% each amid lack of directional cues and dashed hopes of an early rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India.
In the broader markets, profit booking in public sector undertakings dragged the indices nearly 3% lower each intraday.
The BSE MidCap and Smallcap indices, eventually, ended 0.82% and 1.4% lower, respectively.
Among sectors, the Nifty Metal index declined 1.5%, followed by the Nifty Auto, and IT indices (0.4% each). On the upside, the Nifty Bank index gained 1.5%.
The Bank Nifty bulls exhibited strength as they successfully defended the crucial support level of 45,000, establishing it as a critical support zone.
Grasim Industries was the biggest gainer among Nifty 50 stocks, rising 5.92%. SBI, Apollo Hospitals, Sun Pharma and ICICI Bank were other top gainers rising 2-4%.
Investors were still processing the fact that there was less chance of early rate cuts in the US and India. Further, a recent surge in oil and gas stocks has resulted in a selloff, and metal stocks too have witnessed selling.
Buying in Reliance Industries, State Bank of India, and ICICI Bank as well as mostly bullish Asian markets helped boost benchmark equity indices.
The Indian Rupee ended 8 paise weaker at 83.03 per Dollar.
Asian equities were mainly up as Tokyo’s benchmark briefly reached a 34-year high. The benchmark Nikkei 225 in Japan increased by 0.5% to 37,029.91, retreating from its previous advances.
Many regional markets were closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.