The Indian equity benchmarks ended Friday’s session on a flat note as gains in ICICI Bank, Infosys, HDFC and HDFC Bank were offset with losses in ITC, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel and Hindustan Unilever. For most part of the day, the benchmarks traded in a rangebound manner wherein the Nifty touched an intraday high of 15,243.50 and a low of 15,081.00.
The Sensex ended 13 points higher at 51,544 and Nifty 50 index declined 10 points to settle at 15,163.
“There are no signs of any deeper retracements and hence, once this consolidation is over we expect the markets to resume its uptrend. The immediate supports for Nifty are placed around 15,100 followed by 14,975 whereas resistance is seen around the swing high of 15,250 above which Nifty should resume momentum,” said Ruchit Jain, senior analyst – technical and derivatives at Angel Broking.
Six of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended higher led by the Nifty Bank index’s over 1 per cent gain. Nifty Financial Services, Pharma and Private Bank indexes also ended over 1 per cent higher.
On the other hand, metal, FMCG, media and auto indexes ended lower.
Mid- and small-cap stocks ended mixed as Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 0.2 per cent while Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.2 per cent.
ITC was top Nifty loser, the stock dropped 4 per cent to close at Rs 217 after its profit declined 12 per cent to Rs 3,663 crore in December quarter. Its consolidated revenue from operations grew by 6.1 percent year-on-year to Rs 14,124.48 crore in the October-December quarter of the current financial year, compared to Rs 13,307 crore in the year-ago period.
GAIL India, Sun Pharma, ONGC, Coal India, Tata Steel, Titan, Bharti Airtel, Hindalco, Eicher Motors, NTPC and Indian Oil also fell between 1-2.6 per cent.
On the flipside, Adani Ports, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Infosys, HDFC, Wipro, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finserv and State Bank of India were among the gainers.
The overall market breadth was marginally negative as 1,440 shares ended higher while 1,527 ended lower on the BSE.