Sensex trades lower, broader markets outperform

The benchmark indices on Friday continued to trade lower as investors kept to the sidelines ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's policy meeting next week.

At 1:45 pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 28,195, down 31 points, while the Nifty50 was ruling at 8,705, down 9 points. 

In the broader market, BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices outperformed the frontline indices to gain 0.8%, and 1%, respectively. 

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On BSE, 1,576 shares rose and 1,035 shares fell. A total of 130 shares were unchanged.

"The market is consolidating after the strong rally on the budget day," told Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit BNP Paribas Securities to Reuters.

"Going forward, the focus will be on the RBI meet next week," he added.

Sun TV Network hogged the limelight by surging as much as 26% to an all-time high after a special CBI court on Thursday dropped all charges against former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran and Sun TV promoter Kalanithi Maran in the Aircel-Maxis case. CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL REPORT

Auto stocks continued to fall for a second day, and were among the biggest percentage losers on the NSE after weak January sales. Tata Motors was down nearly 2% to Rs 522.

IT stocks fell after strong gains in the previous session. Infosys and HCL Technologies were down 1% each, after gaining nearly 2% on Thursday.

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Meanwhile, Asia's oldest stock exchange BSE made a splendid debut on its rival National Stock Exchange to advance as much as 48.9% against its issue price on its trading debut. CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL REPORT