Markets pare early gains; Sensex, Nifty fall for 6th day

Benchmark indices pared early gains and ended lower on Friday in line with weak trend in Asian markets and concerns that the US Federal Reserve might raise interest rates further to curb inflation.

Fresh foreign fund outflows and selling pressure in HDFC twins also dented investor sentiments.

The BSE Sensex declined 142 points or 0.24 per cent to settle at 59,463.93 despite a firm start. During the day, it fell 280.46 points or 0.47 per cent to 59,325.34.

The NSE Nifty dipped 45.45 points or 0.26 per cent to end at 17,465.80.

In the Sensex pack, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Maruti, Larsen & Toubro, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Tech Mahindra and Bharti Airtel were the major laggards.

Asian Paints, Bajaj Finserv, Power Grid, Reliance Industries, NTPC and UltraTech Cement were among the gainers.