Mumbai :
Market benchmarks surrendered early gains to end with modest losses on Friday, led by selling in IT bluechips, as investors awaited fresh buying triggers amid frothy valuations.
After trading on a positive note through the day, the BSE Sensex ended 18.17 points, or 0.05%, lower at 38,963.26.
In similar movement, the broader NSE Nifty slipped 12.50 points, or 0.11%, to close at 11,712.25. During the holiday-truncated week, the Sensex fell 104.07 points, or 0.26%, while the Nifty shed 42.40%, or 0.36 per cent.
IT stocks came under pressure after tech giant Cognizant slashed its full-year revenue growth outlook. A strong rupee also weighed on the counters.
The US-headquartered Cognizant, which has a significant portion of its employees based in India, revised its full-year 2019 revenue growth outlook to 3.6-5.1% in constant currency terms, significantly less than 7-9% projected just months ago.
In the Sensex pack, losers included TCS, HUL, Tata Steel, HCL Tech, Infosys, Bajaj Finance, HDFC, IndusInd Bank, Asian Paints, ITC and Vedanta, shedding up to 3.70%.
HUL too ended in the red ahead of its quarterly results.
On the other hand, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, NTPC, Yes Bank, Tata Motors, ONGC, Bajaj Auto, M&M, Maruti, Hero MotoCorp and Kotak Bank rose up to 3.11%.
“Market started on a positive note supported by strong rupee and fall in oil prices. However, gains are capped due to the premium valuation.
“Fall in 10-year yield led the bank index to outperform. Market is likely to stay range bound due to weak global cues while better quarter results may provide opportunity to accumulate,” said Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services.
Sectorally, BSE IT, teck, healthcare and FMCG indices fell the most, dropping up to 1.91%.
However, telecom, realty, auto and bankex rose up to 1.56%.
The broader BSE midcap and smallcap indices followed the benchmarks to end up to 0.31% lower.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought equity worth `597.54 crore on Thursday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares to the tune of `791.69 crore, provisional data available with stock exchanges showed.
Elsewhere in Asia, Korea’s Kospi and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended on a mixed note, while other major bourses in China and Japan were shut for holidays. European equites started off on a firm footing.
The rupee, meanwhile, appreciated to 69.34 against the US dollar intra-day. Global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.62% lower at USD 70.31 per barrel.
