Markets pare early gains as Sensex, Nifty fall for 6th day amid concerns over Fed rate hike

Mumbai: Benchmark indices pared early gains and ended lower on Friday in line with weak trend in Asian markets and concerns that the US Federal Reserve might raise interest rates further to curb inflation.

Fresh foreign fund outflows and selling pressure in HDFC twins also dented investor sentiments.

The BSE Sensex declined 141.87 points or 0.24 per cent to settle at 59,463.93 despite a firm start. During the day, it fell 280.46 points or 0.47 per cent to 59,325.34.

The NSE Nifty dipped 45.45 points or 0.26 per cent to end at 17,465.80.

In the Sensex pack, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Maruti, Larsen & Toubro, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Tech Mahindra and Bharti Airtel were the major laggards.

Asian Paints, Bajaj Finserv, Power Grid, Reliance Industries, NTPC and UltraTech Cement were among the gainers.

Among the sectoral indices, metal tanked 2.39 per cent, commodities fell by 1.17 per cent, auto (0.99 per cent), reatlty (0.70 per cent), FMCG (0.40 per cent), power (0.38 per cent) and consumer discretionary (0.37 per cent). Energy, healthcare, consumer durables, oil & gas were the gainers.

The rupee depreciated 11 paise to close at 82.75 against the US currency on Friday, as the strength of the American currency in the overseas market and a muted trend in domestic equities weighed on investor sentiments.