Benchmarks ended in red for the second day in a row. While BSE Sensex lost 47.77 points to 65,970.04, NSE Nifty closed 7.30 points lower to 19,794.40 in a range-bound trade due to absence of major triggers and extended weekend.
Losses in IT majors were off set by gains in financial stocks and growing confidence of foreign institutional investors (FII) in the market. According to exchange’s provisional data, FIIs bought equities worth ₹2,625.21 crore on Friday against ₹255.53 crore on Thursday.
Also read: Goldman Sachs sees Nifty50 at 21,800 by 2024-end
Analysts observed that market has been consolidating for the last few sessions and the momentum is likely to return next week with cues from economic data, including GDP data of the major economies such as the US, China and India. Markets will remain closed on Monday on account of Guru Nanak Jayanti.
Top gainers, losers
Within the Sensex pack, Axis Bank (0.91 per cent), JSW Steel (0.81 per cent), HDFC Bank (0.68 per cent) and ICICI Bank (0.66 per cent) were the top gainers. On the other hand, HCL Tech (1.55 per cent) was the top loser followed by Wipro (1.54 per cent), TCS (1.46 per cent), Nestle India (1.04 per cent) and Tech Mahindra (0.99 per cent).
Broad market
BSE SmallCap gained 0.14 per cent, followed by BSE MidCap (0.13 per cent) and BSE 500 (0.01 per cent).
Among the sectoral indices, BSE Capital Goods advanced 0.59 per cent followed by BSE Utilities (0.54 per cent) and BSE Healthcare (0.53 per cent), while BSE Teck (0.89 per cent) and BSE Information Technology (0.88 per cent) were the major laggards.
Market Breadth
Of the 3,814 stocks traded on BSE, 1,752 advanced, 1,948 declined and 114 stocks remained unchanged.
While 273 stocks hit 52-week high, 23 stocks hit 52-week low.
Wedding related stocks
Siddhartha Khemka, Head – Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, observed that sectors such as jewellery, apparel, hotels, and aviation are likely to gain traction due to the current wedding season.
According to the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), about 35 lakh weddings are expected to be solemnised between November 23 and December 15. It estimates ₹4.25-lakh crore to flow into the economy on the back of spending on wedding-related purchases and services.
‘Weak global cues’
Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said the benchmark index traded on a tepid note following the weak German growth data, and trading volume was limited due to the US market holiday on account of Black Friday.
Also read: Analysts see robust yield from agrochemical stocks
“The US manufacturing PMI data for November is expected to be below forecast, summarising caution in the short-term,” he added.