Indian stocks ended marginally weak on Thursday in a low volume trade, dragged down by financials after a report from the central bank on Wednesday raised concerns over weak corporate balance sheets and bad loans among banks.
The 30-share BSE index Sensex was down 11.59 points or 0.04 per cent at 25,838.71 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was down 4.9 points or 0.06 per cent at 7,861.05.
However, the indexes posted their second consecutive weekly gain, up about 1.3 per cent each.
Among BSE sectoral indices, infrastructure index was up 0.85 per cent, followed by metal 0.75 per cent, power 0.67 per cent and capital goods 0.55 per cent. On the other hand, consumer durables index was down 0.71 per cent, followed by banking 0.42 per cent and realty 0.23 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were Bharti Airtel (+1.99%), GAIL (+1.12%), Tata Motors (+1.00%), Bajaj Auto (+0.66%) and Hero MotoCorp (+0.59%), while the major losers were ICICI Bank (-1.53%), Maruti (-0.88%), ONGC (-0.62%), State Bank of India (-0.54%) and HDFC (-0.46%).
A report released by the Reserve Bank of India warned the impact of companies' weak balance sheets on the financial system needed closer monitoring.
Trading was marred by low volumes in a holiday-shortened week, and subdued trade was likely until December end, analysts said.
"Financials are down because of concerns expressed by the RBI," said G Chokkalingam, the founder of Equinomics, a Mumbai-based research and fund advisory firm.
"Users of oil, resources will continue to lead in the midcap space in 2016, until the second quarter."
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 385.82 crore yesterday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.
Indian markets will be closed on Friday for the Christmas Day holiday.
A report by SMC Global said: "Asian stocks advanced and crude oil climbed for a fourth day, boosting energy shares, while data showing strength in consumption raised confidence in the US economy. US stocks closed higher for a third straight session on Wednesday led by outsize gains in the energy and materials sectors. US new home sales climbed 4.3 per cent to an annual rate of 490,000 in November from the revised October rate of 470,000. Economists had expected new home sales to rise 2.0 per cent to a rate of 505,000 from the 495,000 originally reported for the previous month."
European shares rose on Thursday, boosted by a rise in the shares of commodity companies which climbed on the back of a further rebound in oil prices.
Britain’s blue-chip FTSE 100 index rose 0.3 per cent. In continental Europe, Spain’s IBEX advanced 0.7 per cent, while France’s CAC edged down 0.1 per cent.
Asian shares climbed to 2-1/2-week highs on Thursday, heartened by gains on Wall Street and a recovery in crude oil prices in thin trading ahead of the Christmas holiday.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.7 per cent after US stocks posted their third straight session of gains.
Wall Street rallied in pre-holiday trading on Wednesday, helped by surging energy shares as an unexpected drop in crude oil inventories lifted beaten-down oil prices.