New Delhi

India's stock indices on Friday ended flat, with the Nifty around 26,200. Benchmark indices entered a consolidation phase in early trade as traders booked profits at higher levels.

It came a day after both the benchmark indices touched fresh all-time highs. On Thursday, the Sensex rose over 400 points, or 0.50%, to a record high of 86,055.86, while the Nifty 50 gained 0.40% to hit an all-time high of 26,310.45. However, the Sensex ended at 85,720.38 and the Nifty at 26,215.55.

In Friday's morning trade, the Nifty 50 index opened at 26,237.45, gaining 21.90 points (0.08%), while the BSE Sensex opened at 85,791.55, up 71.17 points (0.08%). At close, the Sensex was down 13.71 points or 0.02% at 85,706.67, and the Nifty was down 12.60 points or 0.05% at 26,202.95.

Nearly 1,945 shares advanced, 2023 shares declined, and 152 shares remained unchanged, with the BSE Midcap and smallcap indices ending on a flat note.

Nifty Auto and Pharma emerged as the top sectoral gainers, while Nifty CPSE & Nifty Oil & Gas ended as the top losers. Pharma, media, auto rose 0.5-1%, while on the other hand, power, oil & gas, telecom shed 0.5-1% each.

On Nifty, the top gainers were Adani Enterprises, M&M, Adani Ports, Sun Pharma, HUL, while the losers were SBI Life Insurance, Shriram Finance, HDFC Life, Power Grid Corp and Bharti Airtel.

Indian rupee ended 15 paise lower at 89.45 per dollar on Friday against the previous close of 89.30.

Sudeep Shah, Head - Technical and Derivatives Research at SBI Securities said, "Looking at key levels, the zone of 26,300-26,350 zone is likely to act as an important resistance zone for the Index. Any sustained move above 26,350 could drive a fresh leg of rally in the index, potentially taking it higher towards 26550, followed by 26800. On the downside, the support is placed in the zone of 26,150-26,100."

Experts also believed that the Indian market sentiment was supported by softer US inflation data, easing global bond yields, and steady FPI inflows, which collectively strengthened banking participation.

On a weekly basis, the benchmarks logged their third consecutive week of gains, rising around half a per cent.

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Volatility in the rupee and selective selling in PSU banks kept traders cautious. Overall, the session continued to favour a buy-on-dips approach, with volumes remaining the key trigger before chasing any breakout, said Ponmudi R, CEO, Enrich Money.