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Shares edged lower on Friday, heading for a second consecutive week of losses ahead of the results from elections in Bihar, which BJP needs to win to improve the parliamentary strength it needs to push through reforms.
The Sensex ended down 39 points or 0.15 per cent at 26,265.24 while the NSE Nifty was down 1.15 points at 7,954.30.
Modi's nationalists and opposition parties were running neck-and-neck in the elections, according to exit polls on Thursday. Official results will be announced on Sunday.
Disappointment over some results, including at Tata Steel Ltd, also weighed on sentiment, but state-run lenders rallied after State Bank of India recorded a better-than-expected 25 per cent rise in quarterly profit.
"Markets think it will be hard for the Modi government to win Bihar elections. That, coupled with somewhat in-line results, are weighing," said Aneesh Srivastava, Chief Investment Officer at IDBI Federal Life Insurance Co.
State Bank of India of India earnings helped Bank of Baroda recover sharply from a fall of as much as 12.1 per cent to finish the top Nifty gainer despite posting a slump in net profit itself.
SBI, Reliance Industries, Coal India, Bharti Airtel and Lupin were the top Sensex gainers.
All the broader BSE indices finished in the red. Among the sectoral indices, healthcare suffered the most with losses of 2.84 per cent. Power, auto and metal stocks too lost up to 1 per cent.
Volatility was up 0.93 per cent with India Vix ending at 19.4725.
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