Equity benchmark indices ended lower on Friday, halting their eight-day rally, amid a weak trend in global markets and the emergence of profit-taking.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 415.69 points or 0.66 per cent to settle at 62868.50. During the day, it tanked 604.56 points or 0.95 per cent to 62679.63.

The broader NSE Nifty dipped 116.40 points or 0.62 per cent to end at 18696.10.

Among the Sensex pack, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hindustan Unilever, Maruti, Nestle, HDFC, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance and Power Grid were among the laggards.

Tata Steel, Dr Reddy’s, Tech Mahindra, IndusInd Bank and HCL Technologies were among the winners.

“The rally in the domestic market was halted by negative cues from global counterparts and broad-based profit-booking in large caps. The correction in the market was led by auto stocks as the sales data came in lower-than-expected due to weaker exports and sequential de-stocking,” Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services, said.

In the past eight days, the BSE benchmark had jumped 2139.35 points or 3.49 per cent.

“Markets witnessed profit-taking and lost over half a per cent, taking a breather after the recent surge,” said Ajit Mishra, VP — technical research, Religare Broking.

The broader market, however, bucked the trend and ended in the green, with the BSE midcap gauge settling 0.80 per cent higher and smallcap index climbed 0.70 per cent.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended in the negative territory.

Equity exchanges in Europe were trading mostly lower in the afternoon trade. Wall Street had ended lower on Thursday. Brent crude was trading 0.13 per cent lower at $86.77 per barrel.

The BSE benchmark had climbed 184.54 points or 0.29 per cent to settle at 63284.19, its fresh record closing high, on Thursday. The Nifty advanced 54.15 points or 0.29 per cent to end at 18812.50, its new record closing high.

PTI