Mumbai (India): The Indian equities markets closed in the red for the first time in four trading sessions on Friday. The benchmark Sensex ended the day 20 points lower while Nifty 50 closed nearly flat after volatile trading witnessed during the day. The markets opened in the negative after three sessions of smart gains. Most indices witnessed volatile trading with negative bias. The 30-stock S&P BSE Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange ended the day at 58,786.67 points, 0.03 per cent or 20.46 points lower from the previous day close at 58,807.13 points. Earlier the Sensex started the day in negative at 58,696.71 points and touched a low of 58,414.76 points and a high of 58,859.91 points in the intra-day. The broader Nifty 50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also closed in the red for the first time in four days. The Nifty 50 ended the day at 17,511.30 points, 0.03 per cent or 5.55 points lower than the previous day’s close. The Nifty 50 touched a high of 17,534.35 points and a low of 17,405.25 points in the intra-day. Seventeen of the 30 scrips that are part of Sensex closed in the red. Titan slumped 1.39 per cent to Rs. 2340.45. HDFC fell 1.12 per cent to Rs. 2809.95. Other major losers included: Axis Bank 0.92 per cent lower at Rs. 687.65; Kotak Bank 0.86 per cent lower at Rs.1895.05; HCL Technologies 0.58 per cent lower at Rs. 1161.50 and Tech Mahindra 0.54 per cent lower at Rs. 1602.60. Asian Paints surged 3.25 per cent to Rs. 3281.90. While there was a selling pressure in the private sector banks, public sector banks posted smart gains. State Bank of India fell 1.25 per cent to Rs. 494.70. Other major gainers included: Mahindra & Mahindra 1.02 per cent higher at Rs. 859.70; TCS 0.91 per cent higher at Rs. 3636.55; Bajaj Finserv 0.69 per cent higher at Rs. 17716.80 and ICICI Bank 0.36 per cent higher at Rs. 758. Ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala promoted Star Health and Allied Insurance Company made a weak debut at the stock exchange on Friday. The company’s share got listed at the Bombay Stock Exchange Rs. 848.80, around 6 per cent lower than its issue price of Rs. 900 per share. At the National Stock Exchange (NSE) the trading opened at even lower at Rs. 845. However, the scrip ended the day Rs. 906.85, which is 6.84 per cent higher than the listing price and 0.76 per cent higher than the issue price.
