Benchmark indices closed lower today led amid weak global cues and profit-booking in market heavyweights. Sensex ended 182.75 points lower at 52,386 on Friday, tracking losses in index majors HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries and TCS. Nifty dropped 38.10 points to close at 15,689.
Bajaj Auto was the top loser on Sensex,shedding 1.99 per cent, followed by TCS, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries and Tech Mahindra.
On the other hand, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv, Bharti Airtel and NTPC were among the gainers rising up to 4.16%.
However,BSE midcap and small cap indices rose 139 points and 99 points, respectively.
Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities said, “The short-term trend of Nifty continues to be negative. But the formation of doji and double bottom could hint at the possibility of upside bounce in the market in the coming sessions. A session with firm positive close in subsequent session is likely to confirm bullish reversal and that could open upside bounce in the market. All bets are going to off on a decisive decline below the support of 15,630 levels. Intraday resistance to be watched at 15,780 levels.”
Banking stocks were the top losers with BSE bankex falling 240 points to 39,668.
Metal stocks capped the losses with BSE metal index gaining 397 points to 18,978.
Market breadth was positive with 1,898 shares against 1,294 stocks falling on BSE.
Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities said,”Nifty closed lower for the second consecutive week, down 0.21% as worries return over the global economic recovery amid the spread of Covid-19 variants. On daily charts, however, the Nifty has formed a doji after a fall suggesting indecision at these levels and a possibility of an upward bounce. Nifty also made a double bottom in the 15633-15635 band. On upmoves, Nifty could face resistance at 15762-15801 band over the next 1-2 sessions, while on a weekly basis, it could face resistance in the 15886-15915 band. 15635 could be a support for the near term while 15506 could be a support for the coming week.”
The rupee ended 7 paise higher at 74.64 (provisional) against the US currency on Friday, tracking weakness in the American currency in the overseas market.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened higher at 74.68 per dollar. It hovered in a range of 74.57 to 74.68 during the session. On Thursday, the rupee had settled at 74.71 against the US dollar.
Global markets
Benchmarks advanced in Paris, Frankfurt, London and Hong Kong but fell in Tokyo, Sydney and Shanghai. US futures rose.
Germany’s DAX jumped 1% to 15,566.88 and the CAC 40 in Paris surged 1.8% to 6,510.77. In London, the FTSE 100 climbed 0.7% to 7,081.08.
In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 declined 0.6% to 27,940.42, while the Kospi in South Korea declined 1.1% to 3,217.95.
Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude rose 1.08 per cent to $74.92 per barrel.