Sensex ends static in choppy trade

The Indian equity indices ended almost unchanged on Friday, taking a breather after three straight days of losses. It was a volatile session, with the NSE Nifty swinging between a low of 5450 and a high of 5520 levels.

Realty, Metals and Oil & Gas stocks were among the major laggards. The Mid-Cap and the Small-Cap stocks saw some offloading as well. However, bucking the negative trend were FMCG, Banking and Telecom stocks.



Finally, the BSE Sensex ended at 18,197 losing 12 points. It had earlier touched a day's high of 18,334 and a day's low of 18,131. It opened at 18,194. The NSE Nifty closed at 5,482 down 6 points.

The overall sentiment continued to remain jittery amid concern that rising borrowing costs and high inflation would hurt India's GDP and corporate earnings going forward.

Globally, world markets remained nervous about the political gridlock in the US over the sensitive issues of debt and deficit. Asian markets ended in the red, while European stocks too were in the negative terrain.

"The Indian markets came off the day's highs today after Moody's said that it had placed Spain's "AA2" rating on review for a possible downgrade, citing continued funding pressures on the Spanish government.

A lot would hinge on the monsoon session of parliament which begins next week. A few very important bills are slated to be presented in parliament. Hopefully, the warring political class will set aside their differences and clear at least some of them," says Amar Ambani, Head of Research, IIFL - India Private Clients.

Global markets were mostly down after the House of Representatives cancelled a proposed vote on a plan by Speaker John Boehner to increase the debt ceiling. US stock index futures and the dollar fell after the news. The greenback hit a four-month low versus the yen.

European stocks extended this week's fall with banks pacing the decline after the Moody's warning on Spain.

Crude oil was headed for the first weekly decline in five, amid concern that a weak US economy will crimp demand in the world's largest consumer. Gold was set for the first monthly increase in three amid growing risk aversion.