Sensex, Nifty snap four-day winning streak amid profit booking in financial stocks

Mumbai: The Indian equity benchmarks closed in red on Friday following profit booking in financial and banking stocks.

At close on Friday, Sensex was down 210 points or 0.27 per cent at 79,032, while Nifty fell 33 points or 0.14 per cent to 24,010.

The day started with a bullish momentum. In the first hour of trading, both Sensex and Nifty touched new all-time highs of 79,671 and 24,174 respectively.

The decline was led by banking stocks with Nifty Bank falling 469 points or 0.89 per cent to 52,342.

Shares of Reliance Industries, Tata Motors, ONGC, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, and State Bank of India contributed the most to the gains on Friday, while ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank Ltd, Axis Bank Ltd, Bharti Airtel, and Kotak Mahindra Bank weighed on the index.

Among sectoral indices, PSU bank, pharma, realty, and energy stocks were the major gainers, while auto, fin service, and private bank shares were the major losers.

According to experts, India’s optimism about the upcoming Union budget and upgrade in GDP forecasts continues to provide momentum in the market. Also, largecaps are in favour due to the comeback of FIIs.

Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities, said, " The sentiment continues to remain strong as the index closed significantly above the critical moving average. However, after a continuous rally, the index looks a bit heavy and might attract profit booking if Nifty sustains below 24,000."

"On the lower end, the index might fall towards 23,850/23,700 in the short term upon a decisive fall below 24,000. On the higher end, resistance is visible at 24,200," De added.