Indian equity benchmark indices, BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50, after surging to fresh all-time highs, pared their gains to end the week’s last trading session in negative territory.
At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex was down 264 points, or 0.31 per cent, at 85,571.85. The 30-stock index had touched fresh all-time highs of 85,978.25 during intra-day trade.
Nifty50, on the other hand, scaled an all-time high of 26,277.35 before ending Friday’s session with a loss of 37.13 points, or 0.14 per cent, at 26,178.95.
Global Cues
That apart, most markets in the Asia-Pacific region advanced, led by gains in Chinese stocks. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was up 2.43 per cent, while the Shanghai Composite was up 1.3 per cent.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.33 per cent, while the broader Topix index saw a slight decline of 0.23 per cent.
In South Korea, the Kospi slipped 0.07 per cent, while the small-cap Kosdaq fell 0.15 per cent. Conversely, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.06 per cent.
That apart, global stock indexes reached record highs on Thursday after chipmaker Micron Technology’s upbeat forecast, while oil dropped on a media report that Saudi Arabia plans to dump its unofficial crude price target of $100 a barrel.
Silver rose to its highest level in nearly 12 years, with interest rate cuts by major central banks lifting investment interest in precious metals.
The S&P 500 registered an all-time closing high, as did the pan-European STOXX 600 index. MSCI’s global stock index hit an intraday record.
