The benchmark indices snapped a five-day losing streak on Friday as the BSE barometer Sensex and the NSE?s Nifty ended marginally in the green ahead of the fiscal deficit data. However, the indices posted their worst monthly performance since August, with the Sensex retreating 3.1%.
On Friday, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold $105 million worth of equities while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought $52.74 million, according to provisional BSE data. FIIs have net sold $25 million worth of equities in the current calendar year so far.
The 30-share Sensex was up 15.60 points, or 0.08%, at 20,513.85 points on Friday, while Nifty was up 0.26%, or 15.80 points, at 6,089.50. The fiscal deficit reached Rs 5.16 lakh crore during April-December, or 95.2% of the full-year target, compared with 78.8% a year earlier, government data showed on Friday.
Among individual stocks, Tata Steel (2.77%), Tata Power (2.71%) and Gail (2.62%) were the top performers on the Sensex. The Tata Steel scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs 357.65 before closing at Rs 356.15.
It was a dismal week for the markets with Sensex declining in four out of five sessions and sliding 2.93%.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) surprised the markets by hiking the repo rate by 25 basis points on Tuesday, pulling Sensex down by 0.11%. It declined further 149 points, or 0.72%, on Thursday after the US Fed decided to taper its stimulus package by another $10 billion.
Meanwhile, most Asian markets remained closed on Friday on account of Lunar New Year holidays.
Among major European indices, the FTSE 100 (-1.29%), DAX (-1.81%) and CAC (-1.46%) were all trading in the red at about 6.00 pm IST. During the week, Hang Seng (-3.12%), Nikkei 225 (-2.99%) and Taiwan Taiex (-2.19%) were among the major losers in dollar terms.
Back home, 17 of the 30 Sensex stock ended in the green on Friday. In the broader market, breadth was strong with 1,506 stocks advancing, while 1,081 stocks declined. Except for BSE Auto Index, all sectoral indices ended in the green. BSE Auto Index was down 0.4%. Among the gainers, BSE Realty Index (1.63%), BSE Metal Index (1.27%) and BSE Oil & Gas Index (1.18%) were the top performers.
The NSE cash turnover on Friday was Rs 10,801 crore, while the total turnover in F&O segment stood at Rs 90,021.36 crore.
