Stock market update: Sensex slips 79 points lower, Nifty ends at 10,585

Amid weakness in Asian peers, domestic stock markets finished the last session of the holiday-shortened week on a lower note. The Sensex slipped 79 points – or 0.2 percent – lower at 35,158. And the Nifty ended at 10,585, down 13 points from the previous close. Declines in energy, metal and IT stocks has pulled the markets lower. However, the benchmark indices pared most of the day’s losses by pharma stocks.

The top laggards on the 50-scrip index were Infosys, Dr Reddy’s Bharti Airtel, Hindalco Industries and GAIL, closing around 2-3 percent lower.

Stocks pulled back from one-month in broader Asia high, as the Federal Reserve appeared poised to deliver another interest rate hike next month.

Anand James, chief market strategist at Geojit Financial Services, was quoted as saying by news agency Reuters, “We don’t have much of a positivity from Asia…volatility is also slightly up, being the last working day of the week.”

Telecom major shares, Bharti Airtel closed 2.9 percent lower, a day after rating agency Moody’s placed the company’s credit rating on review for downgrade citing low levels of profitability and expectations of weak cash flow.

However, the Sensex finished the week with a gain of 146 points (0.4 percent).

Also read: Moody’s: Indian economy to slow down to 7.3 percent next year