Sensex, Nifty End Lower After Volatility
(RTTNews) - Indian shares ended slightly lower on Friday, tracking sluggish cues from other Asian and European markets.
Oil prices continued to rise and more Fed officials urged patience on rate cuts, denting investor sentiment.
A slew of weak U.S. data and disappointing flash PMI reports for June from various European economies and U.K. also raised concerns about the global economic outlook.
Closer home, India's private sector activity expanded at a quicker pace in June, underpinned by rises in both the manufacturing and service sectors, flash survey data from S&P Global showed.
The flash HSBC composite output index rose to 60.9 in June from 60.5 in May. Growth was more evident at goods producers than at service providers.
The benchmark S&P/BSE Sensex ended the session down 269.03 points, or 0.35 percent, at 77,209.90.
The broader NSE Nifty index settled 65.90 points, or 0.28 percent, lower at 23,501.10.
Among the prominent decliners, Tata Motors, Nestle India, Larsen & Toubro, Adani Enterprises and UltraTech all fell around 2 percent.
On the positive side, Hindalco, LTIMindTree and Bharti Airtel rose 1-2 percent.
Premier Explosives soared 7.1 percent on turning ex-date for 1:5 stock split. GE Power rallied 3.5 percent on bagging a Rs 243 crore order from NTPC GE Power Services.
Railway stocks zoomed on strong growth visibility. Rail Vikas Nigam surged 5.8 percent, RailTel Corp jumped 9.5 percent, IRCON added 3.7 percent and Titagarh Rail Systems advanced 6.7 percent.