Sensex and Nifty halt eight-day winning streak pressured by financial and IT shares

Indian equity benchmarks NSE Nifty50 and BSE Sensex ended lower on  Friday, halting a eight day gaining streak for the headline indices. The losses in the headline indices were primarily dragged by financial shares, also pressurised by negative cues across global markets.

The Sensex fell 415.7 points or 0.7 percent for the day to end at 62,868.5. The Nifty50 moved within a range of 18,639.2-18,782 in intraday trade before ending at 18,696.1. Broad indices, however, outperformed primary market. Nifty Midcap 100 and the Nifty Smallcap 100 ended 0.9 percent higher and 0.6 percent respectively.

A total of 32 stocks in the Nifty50 basket finished in the red, with ICICI Bank, HDFC, Infosys, HDFC Bank and TCS being the top losers.

Varun Beverages, BHEL, Bharat Electronics, AB Capital and L&T Technology were top Nifty Midcap gainers. On the other hand, Adani Total Gas, Ashok Leyland, Hind Zinc, Escorts Kubota and Bank of Baroda were the top nifty laggards.

"With IT stocks supporting the Bulls well this week, today we witnessed price action across select themes in the Small & Midcap space. On a day when Auto stocks dragged indices down post the monthly numbers, the street focused attention in the broader markets to segments like Tyres, Pipes & Sugar buoyed by positive newsflow as many stocks were keenly sought after in these pockets," said S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities.

Auto stocks continued the losing momentum on November sales with Eicher and M&M dragging the sectoral index lower. Financial and IT stocks were the biggest losers, while oil and gas shares were the top gainers.

Overall market breadth favoured the bulls at the close, as 2,030 stocks rose and 1,455 fell on BSE.

The rupee ended 10 paise lower from its previous close at 81.32 against the US dollar.

European markets traded lower on Friday, a day after hitting six-month high, as investors await US payroll data. Stoxx 600 index was last trading marginally lower.

S&P 500 futures were down 0.1 percent, suggesting a flat to negative start ahead on Wall Street.