The Sensex and Nifty ended the session marginally higher after a volatile trade, marking their first weekly fall in four weeks on lingering worries about North Korea.

Markets turned directionless in the absence of any positive trigger. Sustained capital infused by domestic institutional investors (DIIs) and the rupee's strength supported the trading sentiment.

The 30-share BSE index Sensex ended higher by 24.78 points or 0.08 per cent at 31,687.52, while the 50-share NSE index Nifty closed up by 4.9 points or 0.05 per cent at 9,934.80.

Both indexes, however, ended the week lower, snapping a third weekly run of gains. For the week, the NSE and BSE ended 0.40 per cent and 0.64 per cent lower, respectively.

Among BSE sectoral indices, capital goods index was the star-performer and was up 1.88 per cent, followed by FMCG 0.46 per cent, infrastructure 0.31 per cent and banking 0.03 per cent. On the other hand, realty index fell 1.54 per cent, PSU 1.01 per cent, healthcare 0.92 per cent and power 0.9 per cent.

Top five Sensex gainers were L&T (+4.07%), Bharti Airtel (+1.65%), Kotak Bank (+1.22%), HDFC Bank (+0.98%) and ITC (+0.78%), while the major losers were M&M (-3.29%), Dr Reddy's (-2.93%), Sun Pharma (-1.87%), Bajaj Auto (-1.76%) and Infosys (-1.25%).

Larsen & Toubro Ltd, which was the biggest contributor to gains in the Nifty, rose as much as 4.5 per cent. The engineering and construction company was up 3.15 per cent this week.

Vedanta Ltd and Hindalco Industries Ltd were also among the top percentage gainers on the Nifty, rising 1.7 per cent and 1.3 per cent, respectively.

Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd fell as much as 7.1 percent and was among the top percentage losers on the NSE. The German regulator concluded an audit at the drugmaker's Vishakapatnam unit with zero critical and six major observations, the company said.

Meanwhile, Biocon Ltd rose as much as 5.5 per cent, heading for a second consecutive session of gains after hitting a one-month high as an insulin facility in Malaysia got an EU compliance certificate on Thursday.

Engineering and construction services provider Punj Lloyd Ltd rose nearly 9 per cent to its highest since May 11 after the company's joint venture was declared provisional lowest bidder for a highway project in Myanmar.

Asian shares

The modest gains in India tracked Asian shares. The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.5 per cent, supported by China's trade data that reinforced views the world's second-largest economy was expanding at a healthy pace.

However, analysts cautioned Indian markets were unlikely to gain much, with global risk factors such as continued tensions on the Korean peninsula weighing on the sentiment.

“Markets are showing strength, considering it (Nifty) bounced back from its support of 9,685 in spite of geopolitical tensions,” said Anupam Singhi, chief operations officer, Marketsmith India, part of William O'Neil India.

Asian shares edged up on Friday as investors kept a wary eye on another US storm, while the dollar skidded after European Central Bank (ECB) chief Mario Draghi suggested the bank may begin tapering its massive stimulus programme this autumn.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia–Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.1 per cent, but was still down 0.2 per cent for the week.

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