Profit booking, coupled with a depreciating rupee and disappointing earnings guidance from an IT major, dragged the Indian equities markets lower on Friday.
Besides, broadly mixed global indices and continued outflow of foreign funds subdued investors' sentiments.
The key indices, which had opened in the green, closed the day's trade on a flat note -- marginally in the red.
The wider 51-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) shed 6.85 points or 0.08 per cent, to 8,400.35 points.
The barometer 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 27,378.01 points, closed at 27,238.06 points -- down 9.10 points or 0.03 per cent from the previous close at 27,247.16 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 27,459.75 points and a low of 27,143.07 points during the intra-day trade.
The BSE market breadth was tilted in favour of the bears -- with 1,506 declines and 1,221 advances.
In terms of broader markets, the mid-cap and small-cap stocks witnessed mild profit booking. The BSE mid-cap index slipped by 0.03 per cent, whereas the BSE small-cap index closed 0.03 per cent higher.
On Thursday, anticipation of healthy quarterly earnings results and budgetary sops, coupled with a strengthened rupee, had lifted the benchmark indices.
The NSE Nifty rose by 26.55 points or 0.32 per cent to 8,407.20 points, while BSE Sensex was up 106.75 points or 0.39 per cent.
"Markets ended marginally lower on Friday after three sessions of gains," Deepak Jasani, Head - Retail Research, HDFC Securities, told IANS.
"Major Asian markets have closed on a mixed note, while European indices traded higher."
According to Dhruv Desai, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls, the result of IT major Infosys was better-than-expected but its margin guidance disappointed the equities market.
"Pharma sector contributed today, while metal stocks traded in the positive on account of price rise in commodities," Desai pointed out.
In addition, the Indian rupee weakened by seven paise to 68.16 against a US dollar from its previous close of 68.09 to a greenback.
In terms of investments, provisional data with exchanges showed that the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold stocks worth Rs 117.59 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) divested scrip worth Rs 473.50 crore.
Sector-wise, the S&P BSE IT index receded by 192.10 points, the automobile index fell by 163.96 points and the TECK (technology, media and entertainment) index edged down by 95.28 points.
On the other hand, the S&P BSE FMCG index surged by 99.84 points, followed by the banking index, which rose by 69.67 points and the healthcare index edged up by 24.54 points.
Major Sensex gainers on Friday were: Axis Bank, up 3.90 per cent at Rs 472.95; Gail, up 2.30 per cent at Rs 452.15; ITC, up 2.13 per cent at Rs 249.50; HDFC, up 1.97 per cent at Rs 1,244.10; and Sun Pharma, up 1.14 per cent at Rs 651.25.
Major Sensex losers were: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), down 3.90 per cent at Rs 2,252; Infosys, down 2.49 per cent at Rs 975.15; NTPC, down 1.55 per cent at Rs 171.05; Maruti Suzuki, down 1.46 per cent at Rs 5,701.10; and Hero MotoCorp, down 1.14 per cent at Rs 3,044.65.
--IANS
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