Indian benchmark equity indices, the BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50, traded marginally lower on Friday afternoon amid mixed global cues. While finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman assuring of a pick up in growth boosted fast-moving consumer goods sector stocks, sentiment remained cautious over political developments pertaining to US President Donald Trump after a whistleblower report was released on Thursday.
At 12.25 pm, the broader 50-share NSE Nifty50 dipped over 37 points, or 0.32 percent, to trade at 11,534. The benchmark 30-share S&P BSE Sensex traded at 38,919, lower by over 70 points, or 0.18 percent.
Broader markets also underperformed with the Nifty MidCap 100 index down by almost half a percent. Among sectors, IT, finance, FMCG, consumer durables, energy advanced, while the bank, pharma, auto, metal indexes declined.
Among top gainers, ITC, Bajaj Finance, Cipla, Indian Oil Corp, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank rose by up to 2 percent. Vedanta, ONGC, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Zee Entertainment and Coal India declined between 2 and 6 percent.
Yes Bank shares recovered on Friday, rebounding from a 5 percent fall to a 52-week low of Rs 48.50 per share in intra-day trade. The private lender's shares traded volatile on reports that promoter Rana Kapoor is looking to sell his stake to Canada's Brookfield Asset Management.
Among the main losers, Lakshmi Vilas Bank’s shares fell nearly 5 percent after economic offences wing filed a case of fraud against the lender’s directors on Thursday.
Piramal Enterprises shares were down 4 percent, after a newspaper reported Japanese tech giant SoftBank may shelve plans to invest in its parent Piramal Group.
Heavyweight stock Nestle India made its debut on the NSE Nifty50 on Friday, replacing Indiabulls Housing Finance. The FMCG share traded 1.23 percent lower, quoting at Rs 13,765.
Shares of another FMCG major ITC jumped more than 2 percent after Morgan Stanley retained an overweight call on the stock, with target price raised to Rs 370 per share.
In the currency space, the rupee opened lower on Friday against the US dollar at 70.96, down 8 paise from its Thursday's close of 70.88.
In debt markets, the yields on the 10-year government bonds were up 0.77 percent at 6.77 percent from the previous close of 6.72 percent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs), who were net sellers for the last few sessions, bought equities worth a net Rs 737.17 crore on Thursday, according to provisional exchange data.
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