Equity indices close lower on profit booking, Dr Reddy's up 10 pc

Equity benchmark indices swung into the red territory during second half of trading session on Friday as traders booked profits across most sectors.

The BSE S&P Sensex closed 134 points or 0.34 per cent lower at 38,846 while the Nifty 50 dipped by 11 points or 0.1 per cent at 11,505.

Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed with Nifty pharma gaining by 4.9 per cent and realty by 1.9 per cent.

Among stocks, Dr Reddy's Laboratories jumped by 9.92 per cent to Rs 5,306 per share after the company said it has settled its patent litigation with Celgene for the latter's cancer drug capsules.

Cipla advanced by 7.1 per cent and Sun Pharma by 2.3 per cent while Oberoi Realty ticked up by 5.2 per cent and DLF by 2.8 per cent.

Ad Ports, Bharti Airtel, Tech Mahindra and Hindalco too traded with a positive bias.

Among the prominent losers were HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Maruti Suzuki, Hindustan Lever and State Bank of India.

Meanwhile, Asian stock markets were muted with most indices trading flat ahead of the weekend as markets consolidated after the much-awaited US Federal Reserve meeting.

Japan's Nikkei edged 0.18 per cent higher while Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose by 0.47 per cent and South Korea's Kospi edged higher by 0.26 per cent.

( With inputs from ANI )