Market ends flat on Friday

Indian equity benchmarks ended the lacklustre day of trade flat on Friday, with frontline gauges swinging between red and green terrain throughout the session, despite a strong trend seen in other Asian markets.

The key indices entered into a positive territory when the sentiments turned optimistic with the government think-tank NITI Aayog member Ramesh Chand’s statement that the farm sector growth is likely to be higher at 3.1 per cent in the current fiscal, compared to 2.9 per cent in 2018-19. Traders also took note of the report that the government may increase customs duty on several products like paper, footwear, rubber items and toys in the forthcoming Budget with a view to promote Make in India campaign and boost manufacturing growth.

Markets turned choppy and traded in a tight band in the afternoon session as traders remained concerned ahead of key corporate results. Power stocks were in focus with ICRA’s report of the government’s new scheme to grant over Rs 1.1 lakh crore to state power distribution companies. It seemed a positive measure for the power sector, given the availability of grants for infrastructure upgradation and the chance to improve the operational efficiency of the discoms.

The BSE Sensex ended at 41,945.37, up by 12.81 points after trading in a range of 41,850.29 and 42,063.93 which was at record high level. The broader indices ended in green; the BSE mid-cap index rose 0.54 per cent, while small-cap index was up by 0.42 per cent.

The top gainers on Sensex were Bharti Airtel-up by 5.47 per cent, Reliance Industries-up by 2.79 per cent, Sun Pharma-up by 1.24 per cent, HCL Technologies-up by 0.91 per cent and Maruti was up by 0.80 per cent.

Whereas, the top losers included IndusInd Bank down by 2.46 per cent, SBI down by 1.62 per cent, HDFC down by 1.23 per cent, ICICI Bank down by 1.14 per cent and Larsen & Toubro down by 1.10 per cent.