Bulls take a breather as markets settle lower after 8 days of rally

Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices ended lower on Friday, halting their eight-day rally, amid a weak trend in global markets and emergence of profit-taking.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 415.69 points or 0.66 per cent to settle at 62,868.50. During the day, it tanked 604.56 points or 0.95 per cent to 62,679.63.

The broader NSE Nifty dipped 116.40 points or 0.62 per cent to end at 18,696.10.

Among the Sensex pack, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hindustan Unilever, Maruti, Nestle, HDFC, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance and Power Grid were among the major laggards.

Tata Steel, Dr Reddy's, Tech Mahindra, IndusInd Bank and HCL Technologies were among the winners.

In the past eight days, the BSE benchmark had jumped 2,139.35 points or 3.49 per cent.

The broader market, however, bucked the trend and ended in the green, with the BSE midcap gauge settling 0.80 per cent higher and smallcap index climbed 0.70 per cent.

Among sectoral indices, power fell 1.23 per cent, auto declined 1.12 per cent, utilities (1.10 per cent), teck (0.52 per cent), consumer durables (0.46 per cent), IT (0.41 per cent) and bankex (0.32 per cent).

Commodities, industrials, capital goods, telecommunication and metal were among the winners.

International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.13 per cent lower at $86.77 per barrel.

The BSE benchmark had climbed 184.54 points or 0.29 per cent to settle at 63,284.19, its fresh record closing high, on Thursday. The Nifty advanced 54.15 points or 0.29 per cent to end at 18,812.50, its new record closing high.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth Rs 1,565.93 crore on Thursday, as per exchange data.

The rupee pared its initial gains to settle down by 7 paise at 81.33 against the US dollar on Friday as the support from weak dollar was negated by weak domestic markets and gains in crude oil prices.

Forex traders said foreign fund outflows also weighed on investor sentiments.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 81.11, but pared the gains and ended at 81.35, down 9 paise over its previous

close.

During the day, the local unit witnessed an intraday high of 81.08 and a low of 81.35. On Thursday, the rupee appreciated by 4 paise to close at 81.26 against the US dollar.

"Weak US Dollar index supported the rupee. However, weak domestic markets, a surge in crude oil and FII outflows capped sharp gains," said Anuj Choudhary - Research Analyst at Sharekhan by BNP

Paribas.

The US Dollar declined as US ISM manufacturing PMI slipped into contraction and positive riskier currencies such as Euro and Pound. Euro surged as the German trade surplus topped street estimates.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.18 per cent to 104.53.