Global cues, fund outflows depress investors; equity indices end flat (Roundup)

Broadly negative global cues on trade and monetary policy issues along with the continuous outflow of foreign funds and a weak rupee led the key Indian equity indices to close on a flat-to-positive note on Friday.

Even though, the day's trade commenced with a "gap-up opening", heavy selling pressure in metal, banking and capital goods stocks depressed the trajectory of both the NSE Nifty50 and the S&P BSE Sensex.

However, a last hour buying spree in IT and healthcare counters aided the indices to pare their losses and close on a flat-to-positive note.

Index-wise, the wider Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed at 10,817.70 points, up 9.65 points or 0.09 per cent from the previous close of 10,808.05 points.

Similarly, the barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which had opened at 35,656.26 points, closed at 35,622.14 points -- higher by 22.32 points or 0.06 per cent -- from its previous session's close of 35,599.82 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 35,675.20 points and a low of 35,419.68 points during the intra-day trade.

In the broader markets, the S&P BSE mid-cap ended 0.40 per cent lower, while the S&P BSE small cap index fell 0.46 per cent. The BSE market breadth was bearish with 1,562 declines and 1,083 advances.

"After a small range trade in the morning, indices hit fresh intra-day low in afternoon trade as selling pressure intensified. A late recovery resulted in pushing the key equity indices to positive zone," said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities.

Jasani added: "Major Asian markets have closed on a mixed note. European indices like FTSE 100 and DAX traded in the red."

On the currency front, the Indian rupee weakened by 39 paise against the US dollar to 68.02, from its previous close of 67.63 per greenback.

Investment-wise, provisional data with exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors sold scrip worth Rs 1,524.74 crore while the domestic institutional investors bought stocks worth Rs 561.01 crore.

Sector-wise, the S&P BSE IT index gained the most, by 305.77 points, followed by the healthcare index which rose by 263.49 points and the Teck (technology, entertainment and media) index, which ended higher by 128.91 points respectively.

On the other hand, S&P BSE metal index fell by 208.78 points, the banking index was down 193.45 points and the capital goods index ended lower by 191.96 points.

The major gainers on the Sensex were Dr Reddy's Labs, up 3.65 per cent at Rs 2,351.10; Infosys, up 3.37 per cent at Rs 1,280.45; Tata Consultancy Services, up 2.75 per cent at Rs 1,841.45; Sun Pharma, up 2.04 per cent at Rs 571.05; and Reliance Industries, up 0.63 per cent at Rs 1,013.85 per share.

The top losers were Yes Bank, down 1.91 per cent at Rs 330.55; State Bank of India, down 1.82 per cent at Rs 277.55; ONGC, down 1.81 per cent at Rs 165.45, Coal India, down 1.59 per cent at Rs 279.05; and Tata Motors (DVR), down 1.56 per cent at Rs 180.05 per share.

--IANS

rrb-rv/vm