Indian equities close lower, intra-day highs for Sensex, Nifty (Third Lead)

After four consecutive sessions of gains, the Indian equity markets provisionally closed on a marginally lower note on Friday as investors booked profits. But key indices touched fresh intra-day high levels.

The wider Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) breached the 9,900-mark for the first time to touch an intra-day high level of 9,913.30 points.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE touched a record high of 32,109.75 points during intra-day trade. On Thursday, the index breached the 32,000 points mark for the first time.

According to market observers, heavy selling pressure in index heavyweights such as Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Steel and ITC pulled the indices lower.

However, some losses were trimmed on the back of healthy macro-economic data which showed that India's annual rate of inflation based on wholesale prices was dragged lower to record low levels of 0.90 per cent in June due to a massive contraction in food prices.

At 3.30 p.m., the NSE Nifty slipped by 5.35 points or 0.05 per cent to provisionally close at 9,886.35 points.

The Sensex ended at 32,020.75 points -- down 16.63 points or 16.63 per cent, from its previous close at 32,037.38 points.

The BSE market breadth was bearish with 1,681 declines and 1,009 advances.

--IANS

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