On Friday, Indian equity indexes edged lower, indicating declines in other Asian markets. Benchmarks were pulled down by selling pressure in private sector banking, metals, financial services, and automotive stocks. The Sensex dropped to 51,061.19 by as much as 264 points and the Nifty 50 index fell to 15,043 by as much as 76 points. ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Infosys, HDFC, Axis Bank, State Bank of India, and Bajaj Finance were among the top drags on the Sensex. As eight of the 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower, led by the 1.4 percent decline in the Nifty Metal index, selling pressure was noticeable across the sectors. The indexes of Nifty Car, Bank, Financial Services, Private Bank and IT also dropped by 0.6-1.2 percent.
On the other hand, among the sectoral gainers were the FMCG, PSU Bank, and Media indexes. As the Nifty Midcap 100 index dropped 0.25 percent and the Nifty Midcap 100 index slipped 0.12 percent, mid-and small-cap shares faced selling pressure. The stock fell by 2.33 percent to 681. Tata Steel was the top Nifty loser. Also, between 1-2 percent, ICICI Bank, Hero MotoCorp, Tata Motors, Power Grid, Eicher Motors, Bajaj Auto, Hindalco, Axis Bank, Asian Paints, Maruti Suzuki, and TCS dropped. On the other hand, among the winners were GAIL India, UPL, Hindustan Unilever, Adani Ports, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Life, Bharti Airtel, Larsen & Toubro, and Reliance Industries.
As 1,231 shares were advancing while 974 were declining on the BSE, the overall market breadth was positive.