In lacklustre trading, equities ended 49 points down while the rupee edged up by two paise on Friday as the Prime Minister’s economic advisory panel said that the economy was likely to grow at 5.3 per cent in this financial year, which is sharply lower than the earlier estimate of 6.4 per cent.
The rupee closed at 63.48 compared to the previous close of 63.50 a dollar. However, it gained 2.76 per cent this week. The rupee touched its all time low of 68.85 on August 28.
The S&P BSE Sensex closed at 19732.76 with a loss of 49.12 points.
Realty stocks gained handsomely with a gain of 2.72 per cent followed by power (2.47 per cent), capital goods (2.27 per cent) and PSUs (1.85 per cent).
Except consumer durables, which lost 1.54 per cent, information technology (1.43 per cent), technology (1.12 per cent) and fast moving consumer goods (0.97 per cent), all other sectoral indices ended in the positive territory.
On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the 50-share Nifty closed flat at 5850.60. “For the third successive session, the markets were seen struggling in a range despite better than expected IIP numbers announced on Thursday. Sluggish global markets and volatile movement in rupee were to be blamed for this dull session,” said Jayant Manglik, President-Retail Distribution, Religare Securities Limited.
