Closing Bell: Indian market closes the week on a negative note, Nifty falls below 17500

Domestic equity bourses Sensex and Nifty gave up early gains in a choppy trading session amid a mixed trend in global markets. Selling in IT and select financial names dragged the headline indices lower, though buying in oil & gas and metal stocks lent some support.

The Indian equity market finished the holiday-shortened week on a negative note, extending the fall for the third straight session. The domestic indices erased their respective initial lead in a choppy trading session as participants drew a grim picture of the inflation front. Retail inflation has surged to a 17-month high of 6.95% in March. On the global front, the US monthly consumer prices increased by the most in 16 years in March, while inflation in Britain peaked to a 30-year high. Thus, the Indian indices ended lower for the third consecutive session.

At the closing bell on April 13, the Sensex was down 237.44 points or 0.41% at 58,338.93, and the Nifty was down 54.60 points or 0.31% at 17,475.70. On the market breadth, around 1811 shares have advanced, 1494 shares declined, and 136 shares are unchanged.

Top Nifty losers today were Maruti Suzuki, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Tata Motors and Dr Reddy's Labs, however, ONGC, Apollo Hospitals, ITC, Sun Pharma and UPL were the top gainers.

On the sectoral basis, except realty, auto and bank, all other sectoral indices ended in the green with FMCG, capital goods, metal and oil & gas indices rising 0.5% each. In the broad markets, BSE midcap index fell 0.2% and smallcap index added 0.27%.

The Indian domestic equity markets will remain closed on Thursday and Friday on account of Mahavir Jayanti and Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Jayanti and Good Friday, respectively. The market will reopen on April 18 after a four-day break.

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