Indices trade flat, close week with 1.4% gains; HCL Tech falls 3%

The Sensex and Nifty pulled back from their all-time highs to settle on a flat note on Friday, owing to sell-offs mainly in IT and banking counters amid a lack of directional cues from global markets.

After surging to its new all-time high of 53,290.81 in early trading, the Sensex ended 18.79 points, or 0.04 per cent, lower at 53,140.06.

The broader Nifty edged lower by 0.80 points or 0.01 per cent at 15,923.40 — its first drop in five sessions. Intra-day, the index soared to its lifetime high of 15,962.25 before moving down.

On the Sensex chart, HCL Technologies was the top loser, shedding over 3 per cent, followed by Infosys, Bajaj Finserv, ICICI Bank, NTPC, and IndusInd Bank.

On the other hand, Bharti Airtel, UltraTech Cement, Tata Steel, PowerGrid, and Reliance were among the gainers. 

During the week, the Sensex rallied 753 points or 1.43 per cent, while the Nifty surged 233.60 points or 1.48 per cent.

“Indian markets opened with gains; however, failed to maintain and ended flattish as profit-booking was triggered in major sectors barring pharma. Buying interest was seen in the pharma sector in anticipation of strong Q1 results. The risk of profit-booking is rising due to elevated performance and lack of direction from the Western developed markets with flat performance recently,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continue as net sellers in the domestic equity market during the past few days, he added.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo ended with losses, while Hong Kong was positive.

Equities in Europe were largely trading with gains in mid-session deals.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude advanced 0.33 per cent to $73.71 per barrel.

On the forex market front, the rupee ended lower by 3 paise at 74.57 against the US dollar.