Markets move sideways, Sensex gains 30 points, Nifty ends flat

Closing Bell: domestic stock markets move sideways on last tring session of week with key indices ending marginally up. Despite selling across sectors, market ended on a positive note.

Bombay Stock Exchange’s 30-share Sensitive Index gained 33.02 points or 0.04 per cent to end at 81,086.21 whereas, National Stock Exchange’s broer Nifty 50 ended at 24,823.15 with minor gains of 11.65 points or 0.05 per cent.

Bajaj Auto surged 4.74 per cent on Friday to become top gainer on NSE followed by Coal India which gained 1.7 per cent and Bharti Airtel which surged nearly 1.6 per cent. Tata Motors, Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finserv, and Mahindra & Mahindra were or table-toppers in today’s tring session. 

However, Information and Technology (IT) stocks dragged market down with LTI Mindtree recording a 1.27 per cent decline to top loser chart. LTI Mindtree was followed by Wipro which lost 1.16 per cent and ONGC which ended 1.01 per cent lower. Or laggards of day include Asian Paints, Titan, Divi’s Lab, and Britannia. 

In terms of sectoral performance on Friday, every sector excluding Nifty Auto ended in red. A strong sell-off was observed in real estate stocks with Nifty Realty plunging 2.43 per cent. IT, Media, Banks, Healthcare, and Oil & Gas, were or key sectors which recorded a decline on August 23. 

All broer market indices excluding Nifty 50 also ended negative with Midcap stocks taking biggest hit. volatility in market also surged with India Vix going up by 4.25 per cent. 

Global markets also showed mixed momentum on Friday as stakeholders await Federal Chair Jerome Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole Symposium. While Japan’s Nikkei ended 0.55 per cent uptick, South Korea’s Kospi settled 0.22 per cent down. Chinese stock exchanges also showed minor gains while European stocks are tring marginally up before Powell’s speech.