Mumbai

Friday’s red closing session for the Indian market indexes was caused by profit-booking in banking and finance firms.

At Friday’s closing, Nifty had dropped 33 points, or 0.14 percent, to 24,010, while the Sensex had lost 210 points, or 0.27 percent, at 79,032.

The day got off to a positive start. Both the Sensex and Nifty reached fresh all-time highs of 24,174 and 79,671 in the first hour of trade, respectively.

Banking stocks had the worst drop, with Nifty Bank dropping 469 points, or 0.89 percent, to 52,342.

The largest contributors to Friday’s advances were the shares of Reliance Industries, Tata Motors, ONGC, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, and State Bank of India; the index was held down by ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank Ltd., Axis Bank Ltd., Bharti Airtel, and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

PSU bank, pharmaceutical, real estate, and energy stocks were the top gainers across sectorial indexes, while shares of private banks, fin service, and auto were the top losers.

Experts say that the market is still being driven by India’s excitement on the impending Union budget and the revisions made to GDP estimates. Large caps are also popular since FIIs are making a reappearance.

Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities Rupak De stated, the index closed significantly above the critical moving average, indicating that the sentiment is still strong. But after a steady rise, the index appears a little hefty, and if the Nifty stays below 24,000, profit-taking may ensue.

If there is a significant decline below 24,000, the index may, on the lower end, short-term fall towards 23,850/23,700. De said, on the higher end, resistance is evident at 24,200.