Indian equity indexes ended largely flat on Friday, after trading under pressure for much of the day, dragged lower by energy, metal and bank stocks.
The BSE Sensex ended lower by 45 points, or 0.12 percent, to 38,645, while the NSE Nifty 50 settled marginally up by 3.70 percent, or 0.03 percent, at 11,680.50.
Midcaps ended with gains of 0.35 percent, outperforming frontline indexes. Yes Bank contributed 10 points to Nifty's fall, being the top drag on the broader index.
Index heavyweight dragged Nifty lower by 30 points, with the stock ending 2.6 percent lower. Tata Motors gained 3 percent in trade today.
Overall market breadth in favour of advances with advance-decline ratio at 4:3.
(Market update as of 3.35 pm )
Energy, bank shares drag indexes lower
The Indian benchmark equity indices turned negative on sustained selling in banks, energy and metal stocks on Friday, trading lower from the day's high.
The BSE Sensex has so far ranged between a high and a low of 38,838 and 38,566 respectively. The broader NSE index has ranged between a high of 11,727 and a low of 11,643.
At 11.35 am, the Sensex traded at 38,585, down by 105 points, while the NSE Nifty 50 traded at 11,652, lower by 25 points.
IT and pharma sectors have rallied higher, largely helped by weakness in the Indian rupee, which breached the 71/$ mark in initial trade on Friday.
HCL Technologies, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Lupin, Tech Mahindra, Bharti Infratel, Sun Pharma, Power Grid, IndusInd Bank, Wipro, Infosys rose by up to 2.89 percent.
At 5.64 percent, Yes Bank was the top loser, followed by Reliance at 2.21 percent. Other losers were Vedanta, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance, M&M, sliding by up to 1.65 percent.
After trading positive in the first half, midcaps also turned negative. The Nifty MidCap dipped 0.13 percent, while BSE MidCap was flat at 0.06 percent.
Sectoral indices on the NSE turned mostly negative except pharma, IT and FMCG. PSU Bank dipped nearly a percent, while Nifty Bank was trading below 28,000 mark, down by 0.44 percent.
On the BSE, energy slipped the most by 1.20 percent, while Healthcare surged 1.63 percent. IT and teck also rose close to a percent.
Asian shares stayed under pressure with Hong Kong's Hang Seng dipping almost a percent on renewed trade war concerns with the US. Japan's Nikkei was marginally up.
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