Sensex falls 129 points, Nifty closes at 11,073 amid weak global cues

Sensex and Nifty closed lower for a third consecutive session on Friday tracking global equities as investors turned cautious over weak key economic data.

Traders said weak US GDP numbers casted a shadow on market recovery. Sensex ended 129 points lower at 37,606 and Nifty fell 28 points to 11,073. Overall Sensex and Nifty have fallen 1.37% and 1.08% this week, respectively.

HDFC, followed by Kotak Bank, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Tata Steel and Nestle India were the top losers today, while HCL Tech, TCS, SBI, Infosys, Sun Pharma and Tech Mahindra were the gainers.

S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities said, "Today quite clearly belonged to the NIFTY Pharma Index which rose 4% and particularly so because even the pharma stocks outside this Index exhibited tremendous strength buoyed by the positive commentary from API suppliers"

Meanwhile, State Bank of India, Tata Motors, UPL, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries and Indian Oil Corporation have reported April-June quarter results today. Sectorally, gains in IT, FMCG, pharma, realty and PSU Banks were capped by losses in media, private banks and financial stocks.

Overseas, Asian markets closed mostly lower today taking cues from US GDP numbers. Chinese PMI came in above expectations at 51.1. Wall Street closed in the negative after GDP fell at a 32.9% annualised pace to record low levels but big fall was arrested due to better earnings from Facebook, Apple, Google, Amazon etc. European markets traded mixed today amid a record drop in US GDP numbers and earnings figures from key stock heavyweights.

Commenting on today's trade, Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial said," Indian markets closed the session flat, with a negative bias. Following one of the worst quarterly US GDP data, Asian shares closed in the negative while European markets were also trading flat. In India, the uncertainty was visible as profit booking and post-earnings results performance of index heavyweights, impacted the benchmark indices."

On Nifty's outlook, Jimeet Modi, Founder & CEO Samco Group said," Selling pressure in Nifty50 at higher levels and weakness in Bank Nifty is likely to drag the benchmark indices lower. We maintain a bearish outlook going ahead and believe a retest of 10600 is a possibility within a couple of weeks."

Indian rupee, the currency benchmark ended 3 paise higher at 74.81 per dollar on Friday over its last close of 74.84 per dollar, tracking weakness in the greenback.

In India, domestic coronavirus cases neared 16.39 lakh with total deaths standing at 35,786. Worldwide, there are 174 lakh confirmed cases and 6.7 lakh deaths from the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak.

Share Market Highlights: Sensex ends 129 points lower, Nifty at 11,073; HDFC Bank, Kotak Bank, RIL top losers