Pharma, metal stocks pull markets down

On Friday, the benchmark indices reeled under selling pressure for the seventh straight session. This was due to pharma, metal, auto and banking stocks led losses amid sustained foreign fund outflows and muted earnings season. However, emergence of buying in power, energy and PSU stocks in the last one hour of the session and covering-up of short positions by speculators wiped off most losses.

The 30-share Sensex after slumping 365 points to hit a low of 35,510.97 intra-day, recouped most of the lost ground on fag-end buying, and finally settled with a modest fall of 67.27 points, or 0.19 per cent down at 35,808.95.

The index has now lost over 1,165 points in seven sessions. The broader NSE Nifty, after shuttling between 10,620.40 and 10,785.75, settled at 10,724.40 points, down by 21.65 points, or 0.20 per cent. On a weekly basis, the BSE index dropped 737.53 points, or over 2 per cent; while NSE Nifty fell 219.20 points, or 2 per cent. Top losers include Sun Pharma, Tata Steel, Vedanta, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Finance, SBI, Axis Bank, HDFC and Maruti, falling up to 3.94 per cent.