Equity indices surrendered mid-session gains to close lower for the third day in a row on Friday as participants remained cautious amid geopolitical uncertainties in eastern Europe. Persistent selling by foreign investors and expectations of policy tightening by global central banks kept sentiment muted, traders said.
After swinging about 700 points between gains and losses, the BSE Sensex finally closed 59.04 points or 0.10 per cent lower at 57,832.97. On similar lines, the NSE Nifty edged lower by 28.30 points or 0.16 per cent to settle at 17,276.30.
The Sensex was dragged lower by mainly Ultratech Cement, M&M, Infosys, Reliance Industries, Bajaj Finance and Nestle -- dropping as much as 1.88 per cent.
In contrast, HDFC topped the gainers' chart with a jump of 1.25 per cent, followed by L&T, Axis Bank, SBI, Dr Reddy's, Kotak Bank and HDFC Bank. On the index, 17 shares closed in the negative zone. "...Market opened low taking cues from yesterday's sell-off in Wall Street following the release of FOMC meeting minutes.
Reports that the US Secretary of State agreed to meet the Russian foreign minister in order to ease tension helped the domestic market to wipe-off early losses though sell-off was seen in late hours.
