Stock market settles flat amid subdued investor sentiment

The stock market settled flat on Friday as weak global cues and foreign fund outflows kept investor sentiment subdued.

At close, the Sensex was 84.11 points, or 0.10%, higher at 84,562.78, while the Nifty went up 30.90 points, or 0.12%, to settle at 25,910.05. The Sensex began the trade on a negative note by declining 449.35 points, or 0.53%, to 84,029.32, while the Nifty started the day lower by 138.35 points, or 0.53%, to 25,740.80.

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The BSE Midcap index slipped by 0.03%, while the Smallcap index rose by 0.06%. For the week, the Sensex and the Nifty 50 rose by 1.6% each, snapping their two-week losing run.

Among the sectors, Nifty Bank rose 0.23% to close at 58,517.55, while the Financial Services index ended 0.35% higher. Nifty PSU Bank clocked a solid gain of 1.17%. Nifty FMCG also ended with a healthy gain of 0.57%.

On the other hand, Nifty IT (1.03%), Metal (0.89%), and Auto (0.52%) ended with significant losses.

On the Nifty, as many as 31 stocks ended on the higher side. These included Tata Motors CV (up 3.20%), Eternal (up 2.15%), and BEL (up 1.60%).

Those ending as the top losers were Infosys (2.33%), Eicher Motors (2.27%), and Tata Steel (1.50%).

Out of 4,319 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,974 advanced, 2,189 declined, and 156 remained unchanged.

On the BSE, as many as 118 stocks hit their 52-week highs in intraday trade, while 146 stocks touched their 52-week lows.

Those hitting highs included Asian Paints, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, BPCL, and Canara Bank. On the other hand, Page Industries, Bata India, Clean Science and Technology, and Cohance Lifesciences were among those hitting their 52-week lows.

Overnight, the S&P 500 crashed 1.7% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq plunged 2.3%.

Among Asian peers, Korea’s Kospi crashed 4%, while Japan’s Nikkei and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng plunged 2% each. In Europe, the UK’s FTSE, France’s CAC 40, and Germany’s DAX fell by 1% each during the session.