Equity benchmarks end lower on profit taking in IT shares

Mumbai: Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty ended lower on Friday due to profit-taking in IT shares and Bharti Airtel after a sharp rally in the previous session.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 200.15 points or 0.24 per cent to settle at 82,330.59. During the day, it lost 383.79 points or 0.46 per cent to 82,146.95.

The NSE Nifty dropped 42.30 points or 0.17 per cent to 25,019.80.

Bharti Airtel dropped by 2.81 per cent after Singtel sold about 1.2 per cent of its direct stake in the firm for around $1.5 billion in sync with its active capital management approach to optimise its asset portfolio and drive shareholder returns sustainably.

HCL Tech, State Bank of India, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services, Bajaj Finserv, Larsen & Toubro, Mahindra & Mahindra and Titan were also among the losers in the Sensex pack.

Eternal, Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints, ITC, Tata Motors and NTPC were among the gainers.

The BSE smallcap gauge jumped 1.18 per cent and midcap index climbed 0.85 per cent.

Among sectoral indices, industrials surged the most by 1.80 per cent, followed by realty (1.72 per cent), capital goods (1.63 per cent), utilities (1.44 per cent), power (1.37 per cent) and consumer discretionary (0.87 per cent).

IT, teck, BSE Focused IT, metal and bankex were the laggards.

On the weekly front, the BSE benchmark gauge jumped 2,876.12 points or 3.61 per cent, and the Nifty surged 1,011.8 points or 4.21 per cent.

Rupee pared its gains and settled 3 paise lower at 85.57 against the greenback on Friday as robust inflow of foreign capital failed to boost the local currency amid negative equity market sentiment and higher crude oil prices..

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index, Shanghai’s SSE Composite index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng settled lower while South Korea’s Kospi ended in the positive territory.

European markets were trading with gains. US markets ended mostly higher on Thursday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude went up 0.09 per cent to $64.59 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 5,392.94 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

Sensex jumped 1,200.18 points or 1.48 per cent to settle at a seven-month high of 82,530.74 on Thursday. The Nifty surged 395.20 points or 1.60 per cent to reach a seven-month peak of 25,062.10.