Sensex ends at 25,838; Nifty cracks below 7,900-mark

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi/Mumbai: A day after hitting their highest levels this year, the BSE benchmark Sensex droped 42.24 points to end at 25,838.14 while the NSE Nifty cracked below 7,900-mark falling 12.75 points to 7,899.30.

Investors booked profits in recent outperformers, but indexes still posted a near 1 percent weekly gain on the back of strong overseas flows.

Hindustan Unilever took the biggest blow, plunging 2.04 percent to Rs 884.30, followed by Asian Paints (1.84 percent) at Rs 871.60.

HDFC, Sun Pharma, ITC, Bharti Airtel, BHEL, Infosys, GAIL, ICICI Bank, Wipro, TCS and Tata Steel lost too.

Of the 30-pack Sensex, 16 ended with losses, but 14 ended in the green, thus limiting the fall.

It was a mixed closing in Asia, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng falling 0.72 per cent and Japan's Nikkei gaining 1.20 per cent. A lower opening in Europe made sentiment turn weak.

In terms of sectoral show, the BSE FMCG index got much hammering, down 0.78 per cent, followed by IT 0.57 per cent, technology 0.47 percent and consumer durables 0.46 per cent.

Broader markets gave some reasons to cheer, with the mid-cap index firming up 0.08 per cent and small-cap 0.02 percent.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) net purchased shares to the tune of Rs 805.42 crore yesterday, as per provisional data.

With PTI Inputs