The benchmark Sensex on Friday inched up 16 points to snap a five-day losing trend on mild buying and wrapped up the week with its worst performance in six months.
The BSE barometer, which shed 875.41 points in the past five sessions, edged up by just 15.60 points, or 0.08 per cent to 20,513.85. Intra-day, it touched a low of 20,448.43.
In the 30-share Sensex, 18 stocks gained while 12 scrips declined. Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, GAIL India, ICICI Bank, Mahindra and Mahindra, Reliance Industries, State Bank of India, TCS, Tata Steel and Wipro led the gainers.
However, HDFC, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, Sun Pharma and Hero Motocorp were among the laggards.
On a weekly basis, the Sensex lost 619.71 points, or 2.93 per cent. This the worst show since the whopping 1,138.11-point plunge in the week ended August 2, 2013.
Dipen Shah, Head- Private Client Group Research, Kotak Securities said, “Benchmark indices fell by about 3 per cent for the week on concerns related to the accelerated Fed taper and depreciation of currencies of a few emerging markets. The surprise increase in repo rate by the RBI also impacted sentiments to some extent.”
The National Stock Exchange index Nifty moved up by 15.80 points, or 0.26 per cent, to end at 6,089.50. It touched the day’s low of 6,067.35.
Brokers said selective buying after five days of fall, helped improve the trading sentiment.
Buying activity was confined to recently beaten down sectors of realty and metal, while a weak global trend capped the gains to some extent, they added.
Smallcap and midcap shares attracted heavy buying.
Overall, 11 of the BSE sectoral indices ended in the green while the auto sector slipped.
The BSE Realty sector index gained the most by rising 1.63 per cent, followed by Metal index 1.27 per cent and Oil & Gas index 1.18 per cent.
