MUMBAI, March 11 (PTI): Rising for the fourth straight day, benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty eked out modest gains after a choppy session on Friday amid a mixed trend in global equities and uncertainties on the geopolitical front.
A strengthening rupee lent further support, though persistent foreign fund outflows capped the gains.
Overcoming bouts of volatility, the 30-share BSE Sensex settled 85.91 points or 0.15 per cent higher at 55,550.30.
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Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty gained 35.55 points or 0.21 per cent to close at 16,630.45.
Pharma counters led the Sensex gainers’ chart, with Sun Pharma spurting 3.82 per cent and Dr Reddy’s 2.07 per cent.
Other winners included ITC, PowerGrid, Titan, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv.
In contrast, Nestle, Maruti Suzuki, NTPC, Axis Bank, TCS and Tata Steel were among the laggards, shedding as much as 1.56 per cent.
“After the strong recovery during the week, the domestic market trend turned cautious on Friday, as focus shifted to next week’s upcoming issues like inflation, BoE and US Fed policy. US CPI inflation recorded a 40-year high due to high gasoline, food and housing costs, adding doubts to global trend.
“Inflation levels in India and abroad are poised to rise even higher in March, though on a temporary basis, considering the impact of the Russia-Ukraine issue,” said Vinod Nair, head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
On a weekly basis, the Sensex jumped 1,216.49 points or 2.23 per cent, while the Nifty advanced 385.10 or 2.37 per cent.
“Equity markets gave positive returns this week even though uncertainties with respect to the Russia-Ukraine conflict continues. Equity market gained despite FIIs remaining net sellers of Indian equities.
“Post correction in recent times, market rally this week was broad based as large cap, mid-cap and small index posted gains,” said Shrikant Chouhan, head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd.
In the broader market, the BSE smallcap index gained 0.90 per cent and the midcap gauge went higher by 0.45 per cent in Friday’s session.
Among BSE sectoral indices, healthcare emerged as the biggest gainer, jumping 2.07 per cent, followed by oil & gas, basic materials and metal.
A total of 2,076 stocks advanced, while 1,263 declined and 119 remained unchanged.
On the global front, Wall Street retreated in the overnight session after US consumer inflation soared to a 40-year high of 7.9 per cent in February, raising prospects of more aggressive monetary policy tightening by the Federal Reserve.
Talks between the Foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine failed to make headway, which also affected market sentiment.
Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Hong Kong and Tokyo settled lower, while Shanghai was marginally higher.
Stock exchanges in Europe were largely trading in the green in the afternoon session.
Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 1.93 per cent to USD 111.4 a barrel.
The rupee pared its initial gains and settled 15 paise lower at 76.58 against the US currency on Friday amid dollar demand from oil importers and state-run power companies.
Foreign institutional investors continued their selling spree in Indian markets as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,981.15 crore on a net basis on Thursday, according to exchange data.
