Mumbai : After four consecutive sessions of gains, the key Indian equity indices took a breather and closed on a subdued note on Friday, as negative global cues, coupled with disappointing quarterly results and heavy selling pressure in healthcare, metal and banking stocks hampered investors’ sentiments.

Although a slight recovery was witnessed in the equity markets on the back of short covering, the indices closed in the red.

The wider Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) rose from its day’s low to close above the psychologically important 10,000-mark. The benchmark index closed above the 10,000-point-mark on July 26 (Wednesday) for the first time.

On Friday, the NSE Nifty50 fell by 6.05 points or 0.06 per cent to close at 10,014.50 points.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 32,381.36 points, closed at 32,309.88 points — down 73.42 points or 0.23 per cent, from its previous close at 32,383.30 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 32,381.36 points and a low of 32,104.66 points during intra-day trade.

The BSE market breadth was bearish with 1,412 declines and 1,240 advances.

The broader markets outperformed the headline indices. The S&P BSE mid-cap index was up 0.48 per cent and the small-cap index by 0.35 per cent.

According to Dhruv Desai, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls, markets were dragged down by pharma major Dr. Reddy’s extended fall for the second straight day post weaker Q1 quarterly earnings.

“India’s NSE index took a breather on Friday after hitting record highs in each of the previous four sessions, as disappointing quarterly earnings weighed on bank and pharmaceutical shares. It is only general profit-booking,” Desai told IANS.

“Dr. Reddy’s, which was the biggest drag on the index, more than halved with its quarterly profit as it was hit by regulatory hurdles and pricing pressures in the United States. Negative cues from Asian markets after US tech shares pulled Wall Street slightly lower also contributed to the losses,” he added.

On the currency front, the rupee weakened by 4-5 paise to 64.15-16 to a US dollar from its previous close at 64.11.

In investments, provisional data with the exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased scrips worth Rs 1,869.92 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold stocks worth Rs 660.03 crore.

“Markets ended with marginal losses on Friday after a bounce back from the lows of 9,944 helped to curb the losses. It was the first session of the new August near month series,” Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities, told IANS.

“Technically, while the Nifty has corrected from life highs in the last few sessions, the underlying trend continues to remain firmly up.”

Sector-wise, the S&P BSE healthcare index declined by 254.41 points, the metal index by 172.46 points, and the banking index by 162.04 points.

On the other hand, the S&P BSE IT index rose by 108.02 points, the automobile index by 50.86 points and the TECK index by 46.50 points.

Major Sensex gainers on Friday were: HDFC, up 3.20 per cent at Rs 1,783.80; Infosys, up 2.63 per cent at Rs 997.85; ITC, up 0.90 per cent at Rs 291.25; Adani Ports, up 0.90 per cent at Rs 396.10; and ONGC, up 0.76 per cent at Rs 164.70.

Major Sensex losers were: Dr. Reddy’s Lab, down 6.08 per cent at Rs 2,462.05; Lupin, down 4.34 per cent at Rs 1,062.85; Sun Pharma, down 3.89 per cent at Rs 550.80; ICICI Bank, down 3.60 per cent at Rs 296; and Hero MotoCorp, down 2.04 per cent at Rs 3,631.80.

—IANS