Mild profit-booking after four days of consecutive gains pulled the benchmark Sensex today down by about five points to end at 27,860.38 after hitting record high for the third session in a row.
However, NSE barometer Nifty ended at new record close of 8,324.15, a marginal gain of 1.95 points, or 0.02 per cent, after clocking fresh life high of 8,350.60.
Trading sentiment was by and large tepid as participants preferred to stay sidelines ahead of trading holidays.
Among 30 Sensex components, 18 stocks led by GAIL, CIL, ITC, NTPC, ONGC and BHEL ended down while 12 others were up.
The Sensex resumed higher at 27,943.04 and firmed up further to an all-time high of 27,969.82 on initial strong buying in view of good foreign capital inflows. However, it declined afterwards to 27,785.40 before ending at 27,860.38, showing a marginal loss of 5.45 points or 0.02 per cent.
On Friday, it had zoomed to intra-day record high of 27,894.32 and ended at record close of 27,865.83. On last Thursday, it surged to previous life high of 27,390.60. In four days ending October 31, it ran up by over 1,100 points.
"After an exceptional week, the benchmarks were seen consolidating in a narrow range. Sentiments were on negative side from the beginning as fiscal deficit reached nearly 83 per cent of full-year target and core sector growth slowed down to 1.9 per cent in September," said Jayant Manglik, President-retail distribution, Religare Securities.
Trading will be truncated this week as the stock market will remain closed tomorrow, November 4, on account of Muharram. Also, there will be no trading on Thursday on account of Gurunanak Jayanti.
Meanwhile, the provisional data released by the stock exchanges showed that Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1,754.73 crore on Friday.
India's manufacturing sector output picked up modestly during October, driven by strong demand conditions and rise in new order flows, an HSBC survey said today.
"Going forward, Indian markets will be in a consolidation phase as of now the Nifty is technically will trade between 8200-8400 before the next rally begins," said Rajshekar Gowda, Senior Analyst, HBJ Capital.
