Mumbai: Markets began the trade on a positive note on Friday amid a largely firm trend in other Asian equities but later gave up all the initial gains and were trading lower. The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed up by 179.28 points to settle at 61,929.88 during early trade. The broader NSE Nifty advanced by 50.7 points to reach 18,394.60. However, later both the benchmark indices shed early gains and were quoting lower. The BSE benchmark traded 48.91 points lower at 61,701.69. The Nifty was trading with a decline of 20.25 points at 18,323.65. The BSE benchmark declined by 230.12 points or 0.37 percent to settle at 61,750.60 on November 17. The Nifty dipped by 65.75 points or 0.36 percent to end at 18,343.90. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned buyers as they bought shares worth Rs 618.37 crore on November 17, as per exchange data.
From the Sensex pack, Asian Paints, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Infosys, Larsen & Toubro and State Bank of India were among the winners in early trade.
Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti, Titan, Tech Mahindra and Bharti Airtel were among the laggards.
Asian markets in Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong were trading higher, while Shanghai quoted lower.
Wall Street had ended in the negative territory on November 17.
International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.71 percent higher at USD 90.42 per barrel.
"There are no major global or domestic triggers that can move the markets decisively as of now. Therefore, the market is likely to meander around the current levels," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
(With PTI inputs)
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