NEW DELHI: Indian equity benchmarks continued their losing run on Friday on sustained selling in pharma, metal, FMCG and auto counters amid weak global cues, as US-China trade talks kept investors jittery.
The US-China trade talks ended with key differences still unresolved. Two days of US-China trade discussions ended in Beijing on Friday with an agreement to keep on talking, and little else, Bloomberg reported.
Investors were eyeing monthly US jobs report — scheduled to be released on Friday — for further cues, in the light of disappointing March quarter earnings.
Rising political heat around Karnataka elections too kept investors anxious.
“Market continued to fall amid weak global cues and flight of foreign funds ahead of US job data. Rupee weakened as positive US employment data might lead to Feds monetary tightening. Mixed earnings from corporates and valuation concerns compared to other emerging markets influenced investors to book some profit,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.
Selling was seen across sectors. However, mild gains in a few bank stocks, including HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank and ICICI Bank, helped Nifty Bank remain in the green, while other sectors lost.
The Nifty50 closed Friday's session 61 points, or 0.57 per cent, down at 10,618, with 11 stocks advancing and 37 declining. Two stocks remained unchanged.
In the Sensex pack, 10 stocks closed the day in the green, while 20 in the red and one unchanged. Sensex lost 188 points, or 0.53 per cent, to settle at 34,915.
BSE Midcap and smallcap indices fell 0.35 per cent and 0.25 per cent, respectively, outperforming benchmark indices by a slight margin.
For the week, the Nifty50 pared 0.69 per cent, while Sensex slipped by 0.15 per cent.
The top Sensex gainer Adani Ports went home with a gain of almost 3 per cent. Hindustan Unilever and Power Grid Corporation climbed nearly 1 per cent.
On the other hand, Sun Pharma plunged 3 per cent in the Sensex kitty. It was followed by YES Bank, Bajaj Auto, ITC, Axis Bank and Coal India, each falling over 2 per cent.
PC Jeweller stole the show on Friday, zooming over 48 per cent on BSE. After hitting its 52-week low level on Thursday, the stock picked up momentum after the company said the news report about the arrest of PC Jeweller owner is factually incorrect.
L&T Finance Holdings (LTFH) climbed nearly 3 per cent on Friday as the company posted 28 per cent rise in its consolidated net profit for the March quarter.
Bharti Airtel lost 2 per cent after reports that the firm may go for stake dilution when it lists the holding company for Africa operations in early 2019.
Global stocks were mixed. Key European markets were edging up, but most Asian markets closed in the red.
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