Indian equity benchmarks ended slightly lower on Friday for the second session in a row. Sentiment weakened after S&P Global Ratings reported that polarization in the performance of Indian banks may persist in 2023 as many large public-sector banks are still weighed down with weak assets, high credit costs, and poor earnings. It expected a mixed performance for finance companies, saying that the asset quality of these is often weaker than major private-sector banks.

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The Sensex fell 87.12 points or 0.14% to 61,663.48. The Nifty was down by 36.25 points or 0.20% to 18,307.65. 

The broader indices ended lower with the BSE MidCap index losing 0.44% and the SmallCap index down by 0.45%. 

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto down by 1.23%, Energy 0.73%, Oil & Gas 0.73%, Consumer Discretionary 0.63%, and Capital Goods 0.59%. While Realty up by 0.14% and Bankex 0.04% were only gaining sectoral indices on BSE.

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Top laggards from the Sensex pack were Mahindra and Mahindra down by 2.46%, Maruti Suzuki 1.57%, 1.63%, Bajaj Finance 1.53%, IndusInd Bank 1.52%, NTPC 1.52%, Bharti Airtel 1.07%, ITC 0.70%, Wipro 0.68%, Ultratech Cement 0.66%, and Bajaj Finserv 0.60%.

Gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 0.99%, Asian Paints 0.86%, HCL Technologies 0.77%, SBI 0.58%, Kotak Mahindra Bank 0.44%, Infosys 0.38%, HDFC 0.30%, Axis Bank 0.28%, Tech Mahindra 0.23%, and ICICI Bank 0.13%.

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The rupee falls 6 paise to close at 81.70 against the US dollar on Friday.

Asian markets settled mostly lower with the KOSPI Composite up by 0.06%, the Nikkei 225 down by 0.11%, Shanghai Composite down by 0.58%, and the Hang Seng down by 0.29%.

European stock exchanges were trading higher in mid-session deals. The US equity markets ended with losses on Thursday.

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Brent crude futures, the international oil benchmark rose 0.36% to $90.10 per barrel.

According to stock exchange data, foreign institutional investors bought shares worth a net of Rs 618.37 crore on Thursday.