Mumbai– Continuous foreign fund inflows along with positive industrial production macro-data slightly lifted the Indian equity benchmark indices on Friday after a range-bound trade session.
In the day’s trade, both the indices had a gap-down opening in line with their Asian peers. Soon afterwards, a volatile session followed at the end of which the key indices closed on a flat-to-positive level.
Analysts cited that profit bookings, along with, high retail price inflation for October and expensive propositions impacted investors’ sentiments.
On the other hand, continuous foreign fund inflows along with positive data point aided to arrest the downfall and triggered a gradual recovery.
Globally, Asian shares opened lower Friday as rising cases of coronavirus infections in the US, Europe and Asia added to investors’ worries that economies will once again be constrained by pandemic restrictions on travel and businesses.
However, they rose later from intraday lows.
Similarly, European shares opened lower but soon entered positive territory.
Back home, volumes on the NSE fell after two days of extraordinarily high deal throughput, but it was still above recent averages.
Among sectors, ‘Pharma, Metals and Reality’ gained the most, while the ‘Media’ index lost.
Besides, FII inflows on the BSE, the NSE and the MSEI in the capital market segment stood at Rs 1,935.92 crore
Consequently, the S&P BSE Sensex closed at 43,443, higher by 85.81 points, or 0.20 per cent, from its previous close of 43,593.67.
Similarly, the Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange closed in the red. It rose to 12,719.95, higher by 29.15 points, or 0.23 per cent, from its previous close.
“Nifty once again recovered from initial weakness, suggesting that it is headed higher. However slowdown in fund inflows could be one worrying factor early next week,” said Deepak Jasani- Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities.
“Broadening of the market is also a welcome sign that could trigger higher trader interest in the markets.”
According to Siddhartha Khemka, Head – Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services: “Global cues were muted as rising coronavirus infections in the United States and Europe offset optimism from a potential vaccine.”
“On the domestic side, market ended the last trading day of ‘Samvat 2076’ on a positive note after oscillating between gains and losses during the day. This was the second straight week of gains with Nifty recording weekly gain of more than 3 per cent.” (IANS)
