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Indian equities ended flat on Friday after witnessing a volatile trading session, but sentiment stayed mildly positive as key indices rebounded from intraday lows on buying at support levels.
Following heavy selling pressure in the early hours, the indices staged a gradual recovery during the second half, led by strength in heavyweight Reliance Industries. At the end of the trading day, the BSE Sensex was down 7.25 points or 0.01 per cent at 80,710.76, and the Nifty was up 6.70 points or 0.03 per cent at 24,741.00. "Post the GST Council meeting, investor sentiment remained mixed, with profit-booking emerging in select sectors, further contributing to the day's volatility," said Sudeep Shah, Head - Technical Research and Derivatives at SBI Securities. Observing the mood of the market, Ajit Mishra - SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd said, "Despite optimism around policy reforms and supportive domestic factors, markets appear to be entering a consolidation phase, cautious given lingering tariff concerns and persistent foreign institutional outflows. That said, trading opportunities remain across sectors. Participants are advised to align their positions accordingly, with a focus on risk management." "The momentum indicators are in between the overbought and oversold regions, suggesting a range-bound move in the index. As expected, the GST council news on the reduced GST for multiple products cheered the market participants; however, the rally was immediately sold-off, indicating a possible downside move in the index." Sector-wise, auto stocks outperformed, rising over 1% on optimism following reduced GST rates for vehicles. These gains were offset by weakness in consumer and IT counters, with IT reversing early strength to close lower by 1.3% amid global growth concerns. Meanwhile, mid- and small-cap indices posted modest gains of around 0.3% each. Shah added that from a technical perspective, the Nifty continues to remain range-bound, as reflected in momentum indicators, with the daily RSI currently at 49.39. Market breadth was neutral, with 258 stocks advancing against 241 declines within the Nifty 500 universe. (ANI)
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