The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Friday, broke away from their rallies and declined in morning trade. The S&P BSE Sensex dipped 236 points to touch 72,173.82 in early trade, while the NSE Nifty50 fell 74 points to reach 21,703.90.
At 9:45 AM, the Sensex was trading at 72,212.98, at a loss of nearly 200 points, while the Nifty50 stood at 21,730.30, after dropping nearly 50 points.
On the 30-share Sensex platform, Tata Motors, Wipro, Bajaj Finserv, Maruti, and ITC emerged among the prime gainers. On the down side, NTPC, SBI, Infosys, Titan, and PowerGrid were among those trading in the red.
In the broader markets, the indices were mostly trading in green. The Nifty Microcap 250 and Smallcap 50 were leading the gains and trading up by 0.35 per cent and 0.27 per cent respectively. Among the laggards, the Nifty 100 index dipped 0.10 per cent in the morning.
Among specific stocks on the NSE, Tata Consumer Products advanced over 3 per cent in the morning, followed by Tata Motors, trading up by nearly 2 per cent.
Sectorally, the Nifty Auto and FMCG indices remained the only gainers and were trading higher by 0.75 per cent and 0.34 per cent respectively. Among the rest, Oil & Gas and PSU Bank led the losses and dropped 0.41 per cent and 0.40 per cent respectively.
In the previous session on Thursday, the two equity benchmarks closed higher for the fifth consecutive session after reaching fresh lifetime peaks during the day. The S&P BSE Sensex logged a new record high of 72,484.34 and settled at 72,410.38, climbing 371.95 points in the day. The NSE Nifty50 reached a fresh high of 21,801.45 during the day before closing at 21,778.70, a gain of 123.95 points.
The domestic rupee appreciated 6 paise to touch 83.14 against the US dollar in early trade on Friday, amid a weak American currency against an unabated inflow of foreign funds. At the interbank foreign exchange, the Indian currency opened at 83.14 and then traded in the range fo 83.12 to 83.16, before settling at 83.14 against the American dollar. This marks the second straight day for the appreciation in the currency. A day earlier, on Thursday, the domestic currency settled 14 paise higher at 83.20 against the greenback.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude gained 0.44 per cent to touch $77.49 a barrel. FIIs purchased equities worth Rs 4,358.99 crore on Thursday, official data from the exchange revealed.