Benchmarks slip for second day; close flat for the week

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Mumbai, November 18

The Sensex and Nifty stayed on the back foot for the second straight session on Friday as investors offloaded auto, finance and energy stocks amid a lacklustre trend in global markets.

After tumbling over 400 points during the session, the 30-share BSE Sensex recouped most of the losses to end 87.12 points or 0.14 per cent lower at 61,663.48.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty dipped 36.25 points or 0.20 per cent to end at 18,307.65.

Mahindra amp; Mahindra was the top laggard among the Sensex constituents, shedding 2.46 per cent, followed by Maruti, Bajaj Finance, IndusInd Bank, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, ITC and Wipro.

In contrast, Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints, HCL Technologies, SBI, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Infosys were among the winners, rising up to 0.99 per cent.

The market breadth was negative, with 20 of the 30 Sensex stocks closing in the red.

"Domestic market is now focusing on global trend for future direction due to lack of domestic triggers. Negative vibes in developed market and aggressive comments from Fed officials have shaken the ongoing optimistic trend across the globe.

"Despite a late attempt of recovery, the domestic market largely traded with a negative shade in all sectors except PSU banks," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

On a weekly basis, the Sensex dipped 131.56 points or 0.21 per cent, while the Nifty declined 42.05 points or 0.22 per cent.

"Next week FOMC meeting minutes are due which would provide further cues to the market. This week though Nifty shied away from its all-time high, it is hoped that next week, Nifty would scale to those levels.

"Volatility index too is at 1-year low and at comfortable levels which is supporting the positive sentiments," said Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.

In the broader market, the BSE smallcap gauge dipped 0.45 per cent and midcap index lost 0.44 per cent in Friday's session.

Among sectoral indices, auto fell by 1.23 per cent, oil amp; gas declined 0.73 per cent, energy 0.73 per cent, consumer discretionary 0.63 per cent and power fell 0.56 per cent.

Only realty and bankex ended marginally higher.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended lower, while Seoul settled in the green.

Equity exchanges in Europe were trading in the positive territory in the afternoon session. Wall Street had ended lower on Thursday.

International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.40 per cent higher at USD 90.09 per barrel.

The rupee depreciated 6 paise to close at 81.70 (provisional) against the US dollar on Friday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned buyers as they bought shares worth a net Rs 618.37 crore on Thursday, as per exchange data.

The Tribune