Domestic equity indices closed Friday's trade on a listless note as major benchmarks edged marginally lower on the back of selling pressure seen in banking, FMCG and metal stocks. For the whole week, Indian shares saw biggest weekly fall in a month after the US Federal Reserve came out with a hawkish outlook on the rate hike in 2017.
While the 30-share index Sensex closed 0.11 percent lower at 26,489.56, the 50-share index Nifty was at 8,139.45, down 0.17 percent. Shares of bank, metals, telecom and FMCG witnessed selling pressure, dragging the indices. But auto and IT companies provided some support to the market amid buying interest from investors, which capped the overall fall on Friday. Buying in index heavyweights like Infosys, HDFC and Reliance Industries also supported this trend.
Overall market breadth was negative with 1,117 advances and 1,495 declines. Hindalco was the major loser with its shares closing 3.35 percent lower at Rs 170.20. UltraTech Cement, Bharti Airtel, ONGC and BHEL were the other major losers in Friday trade. Meantime, Tata Motors gained the most with its shares closing 2.15 percent higher at Rs 473.15. Bharti Infratel, Infosys, Eicher Motors and TCS were the other major gainers on Friday.
Experts said that market performance would remain subdued during rest of the month as foreign institutional investors would not be active due to Christmas holidays.
Globally, most Asian shares traded in the green due to currency depreciation after the Fed's rate hike. While Chinese yuan touched its lowest point against the dollar since May 2008, Japanese yen also depreciated on Friday. The Fed hiked interest rate by 25 basis points to 0.75 percent on Wednesday from 0.5 percent earlier with an outlook of three rate hikes next year. Meanwhile, European indices were trading in the green taking cues from American markets, which closed on a firm note on Thursday.
After a sharp fall of around 40 paise on Thursday, the Indian rupee appreciated 0.10 percent to close Friday trade at 67.76 against the dollar. Meanwhile, crude oil prices rose in the US market with West Texas Intermediate (WTI) touching $51.08 per barrel as oil firms in West Asia informed customers about supply cuts in coming days.
