Equities settle marginally low, Nifty bank, auto top losers

NEW DELHI: After a substantial rebound in the morning session primarily due to value buying at lower levels, the Indian equities settled a tad low on Friday.

The losses in the indices continue from the previous session because the US Fed's Federal Open Market Committee, in its latest meeting held on Wednesday, said it was ready to tighten monetary policy.

The Federal Open Market Committee kept its policy interest rate "near zero" and stated its expectation that an increase in this rate would "soon be appropriate."

"After the decent opening post yesterday's weak closing, domestic bourses again staged a quick sell-off, tracking weak European trend," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

"Policy tightening by the US Fed and rising geopolitical tensions in Ukraine coloured global sentiments. The broad market ended mixed considering IT, realty and Mid and small Caps rebounded after continuous heavy-selling this week."

Sensex settled at 57,200 points, down 0.13 per cent or 76 points, whereas Nifty at 17,101 points, down 0.04 per cent or just eight points.

Among the sectoral indices, Nifty bank, auto, financial services declined the most, while Nifty IT, pharma, and media rallied the most.

Among the stocks, Maruti Suzuki, Tech Mahindra, Power Grid Corporation, ICICI Bank, and Hero Motocorp were the top five losers during the session.

NTPC, UPL, Sun Pharma, Tata Consumers, and Indusind Bank were the top five gainers on Friday. (IANS)

Also Read: Sensex, Nifty settle 1% low; US Fed's policy guidance weighs

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