Closing bell: Sensex drops 48 points to end day at 55,769; Nifty trades at 16,584

A fag-end sell-off dragged down benchmark indices in a choppy session on Friday, with the Sensex settling 49 points lower.

The 30-share BSE Sensex, which traded in the green for most part of the day, came under selling pressure towards the end to close 48.88 points or 0.09 per cent lower at 55,769.23. During the day, it hit a high of 56,432.65 and a low of 55,719.36.

The broader NSE Nifty also gave up intra-day gains and dipped 43.70 points or 0.26 per cent to finish at 16,584.30.

From the Sensex pack, UltraTech Cement, Maruti, NTPC, Bajaj Finserv, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank and M&M were the major laggards.

In contrast, Reliance Industries, Infosys, Larsen & Toubro, HCL Technologies, Sun Pharma, Wipro, TCS and Hindustan Unilever Limited were among the gainers.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Seoul and Tokyo ended in the green. Chinese markets were closed for a holiday.

Markets in Europe were trading mostly higher during afternoon trade. Wall Street had ended sharply higher on Thursday.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.66 per cent to USD 116.8 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth a net ₹451.82 crore on Thursday, according to stock exchange data.