Mumbai, July 15 (IANS) Indian equities markets slipped further Friday as traders booked profits across the breadth of the market and a benchmark index closed 56 points lower.
The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 18,694.19 points, closed at 18,561.92 points, down 56.28 points or 0.3 percent from its previous close Thursday at 18,618.2 points.
Some freak trades in the futures segment, which resulted in 12 of the 30 Sensex scrips soaring 20 percent, resulted in the Sensex breaching the 19,000-mark in early trade and moving up to the intra-day high of 19,619.65 points.
The scrips as well as the benchmark index retreated soon after to languish in the negative throughout the day.
The 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also ended lower at 5,581.1 points, down 0.33 percent.
Broader markets too ended lacklustre. The BSE midcap index closed 0.11 percent down while the BSE smallcap index nudged up 0.08 percent.
The market breadth was tilted towards the negative with 1,384 stocks advancing, 1,472 on the decline and 135 remaining unchanged.
Metal, auto and realty stocks were among the top losers, while IT scrips saw some gains after being under selling pressure for the past few days. TCS was among the major gainers.
Among gainers on the 30-scrip Sensex were: TCS, up 2.03 percent at Rs.1,148.05; M&M, up 0.83 percent at Rs.718.85; RIL, up 0.74 percent at Rs.873.30; and Wipro, up 0.74 percent at Rs.414.60.
Losers included Tata Motors, down 2.61 percent at Rs.1,036.15; Sterlite, down 2.01 percent at Rs.163.05; ONGC, down 1.94 percent at Rs.278.15; and Cipla, down 1.58 percent at Rs.324.
According to data available with the Securities and Exchange Board of India, foreign institutional investors bought stocks worth $75.82 million Friday.
Asian markets closed mixed.
The Nikkei of the Japanese stock exchange closed 0.39 percent up at 9,947.47 points.
The Hang Seng of the Hong Kong stock exchange closed 0.55 percent lower at 21,819.23 points, while the Chinese Shanghai composite index ended flat at 2,815.2 points.
Among European bourses, Britain's FTSE 100 was ruling 0.13 percent down at 5,839.17 points, the French CAC 40 was ruling 0.44 percent lower at 3,734.71 points.
The German DAX was down 0.26 percent at 7,196.14 points.