Sensex, Nifty Fall For Third Straight Session Dragged By Infosys, Reliance

The Indian equity benchmarks fell for third session in a row on Friday dragged by losses in Infosys, Reliance Industries, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finance and ICICI Bank. However, the downside was capped owing to buying interest in HDFC twins, Tata Consultancy Services, Larsen & Toubro and Axis Bank. For most part of the day, benchmarks traded in a rangebound manner with Sensex moving in a band of 685 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday high of 17,380 and low of 17,219. Globally investor sentiment was nervous regarding evolving geopolitical developments between Russia and Ukraine.

The Sensex ended 59 points lower at 57,833 and Nifty 50 index declined 28 points to 17,276.

World shares were mixed on Friday as investors watched developments in the Ukraine after the U.S. warned of a high risk of a Russian invasion.

Benchmarks rose in London, Paris and Shanghai but fell in Hong Kong and Tokyo. Oil prices fell and U.S. futures were higher.

Back home, eleven of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower led by the Nifty Realty index's over 1 per cent fall. Oil & Gas, Healthcare, Pharma, Media and Auto indexes also fell between 0.6-1 per cent.

On the other hand, select banking and financial services witnessed buying interest.

Mid- and small-cap shares underperformed their larger peers as Nifty Midcap 100 index dropped 0.9 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index declined 1 per cent.

Among the individual shares, Ambuja Cements was top loser among the futures and option shares. The stock dropped 6 per cent to Rs 338 after its profit dropped 55.48 per cent to Rs 431 crore in fourth quarter, the Gujarat-based company said which follows January to December financial year. Its profit in the year ago period came in at Rs 968 crore.

ONGC was top Nifty loser, the stock fell 2.2 per cent to close at Rs 168. Divi's Labs, Cipla, UltraTech Cement, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors, Shree Cements, Eicher Motors, Infosys, JSW Steel and Tech Mahindra also fell between 1-2 per cent.

On the flipside, Coal India, SBI Life, Bajaj Auto, HDFC, Larsen & Toubro, Axis Bank Kotak Mahindra Bank, Dr Reddy's Labs and TCS were among the gainers.

The overall market breadth was extremely negative as 2,201 shares ended lower while 1,154 closed higher on the BSE.