Mumbai, Feb 21: The Indian stock market closed lower on Friday and on a weekly basis, the Nifty and the Sensex extended their losses amid weak global cues and broad-based weakness.

At the closing bell, Sensex closed 424.90 points, or 0.56 per cent, down at 75,311.06 while the Nifty shed 117.25 points, or 0.51 per cent, to close at 22,795.90.

Nifty Bank closed at 48,981.20, down 353.35 points or 0.72 per cent.

Overall, Nifty closed lower in 12 out of the last 13 trading sessions. Sectoral indices struggled, with 12 of 13 major indices closing in the red.

The NSE Nifty Auto was the worst-performing sector, while the NSE Nifty Metal rose the most. The Nifty Auto index dropped 2.5 per cent following reports that the government may slash import duties on electric vehicles.

Vikram Kasat of PL Capital-Prabhudas Lilladher said that Indian equity benchmarks opened lower, tracking weakness in global markets.

Concerns over US retaliatory tariffs and persistent foreign selling continued to weigh on sentiment. "Overnight losses on Wall Street, driven by a rise in US jobless claims and weak corporate outlooks, added pressure," he mentioned.

Hindalco Industries, Tata Steel, and Eicher Motors were the top gainers, while Mahindra & Mahindra, ICICI Bank, and Bharat Petroleum were among the top losers in the index.

According to market experts, the domestic market continued to exhibit broad-based weakness, primarily influenced by investor concerns over the hawkish tone of the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes, which signalled prolonged higher interest rates that could constrain liquidity in emerging markets (EMs).

The rupee traded weak by 0.05 at 86.70 despite the dollar index slipping to 106.60, as foreign institutional investor (FII) selling continued, keeping pressure on the currency.

Going forward, the rupee is expected to trade in a range of 86.45-87.10, with global sentiment and capital flows playing a key role in determining direction, according to market watchers.

Meanwhile, gold traded weak and remained volatile within a range, with Comex gold fluctuating between $2,920 and $2,935. At MCX, gold moved between Rs 85,900 and Rs 85,400.

--IANS

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