Mumbai, March 20 (IANS) After a session of range-bound trading, Indian equities ended in the red Friday on overnight losses in the US, as also due to mixed signals from the Asian peers and a weak opening in European bourses.
The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened at 8,951.34 points, as against the previous close at 9,001.75 points, and hit a low of 8,867.13 points as trading progressed.
On the closing bells, the key index ended 8,966.68 points, with a loss of 35.07 points, or 0.39 percent, over Thursday's close, data with the bourse showed.
Only the indices for metals, fast-moving consumer goods, oil and gas technology and public sector stocks ended in the green, while those for seven others, led by realty index ended in the red.
Similarly, while the small-cap index ended with a marginal gain, that for mid-cap stocks closed in the red.
'The overnight losses in the US, the mixes signals from the Asian bourses and weak signals from the European bourses kept the Indian markets under check and contributed to the volatility,' said an analyst with a leading brokerage here.
'It was for this reason that the Sensex could not breach the previous day's close, despite coming close to it towards the end of the trading day,' the analyst added.
Hindustan Aluminium, Oil and Natural Gas Corp, Tata Steel, Sun Pharmaceutials and Housing Development Finance Corp led the gainers, while the losers were led by Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, Larsen and Toubro and Maruti-Suzuki.
At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty remained virtually unchanged, ending at 2,807.05, against the previous close at 2,807.15 - a difference of a mere 0.10 points.
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