The Nifty and the Sensex closed flat on Friday. The Nifty shed 2.5 points to close at 5320 and the BSE three points to close at 17558.
Market-men are expecting follow-up action on the statements made by the Finance Minister.
"There are concerns on fiscal deficit, inflation, monsoons, crude prices and fiscal reforms on the domestic front. We maintain that reforms are a pre-requisite for the markets to move up. GDP estimates have been downgraded by RBI and by various other agencies already. In the absence of reforms, there may be rating downgrades which might start flowing in from rating agencies. If this happens, fund flows may dry up, which may push the rupee further down and stoke imported inflation (especially on the crude oil front), said Dipen Shah, Head - PCG (Private Client Group) Research, Kotak Securities."
Buying was witnessed in the IT, TECK, FMCG and oil and gas sectors. However, consumer durables, auto, banking and PSU sector stocks dragged the Sensex down.
HUL, Sterlite, Maruti, TCS and Infosys were the top five Sensex gainers; SBI, Tata Motors, Hero MotoCorp, Tata Steel and Coal India were the top five losers.
On the NSE, auto and PSU bank indices were the biggest losers while IT and media indices were the largest gainers.
Volatility was down 1.6 per cent and the India Vix closed at 16.07.
Weak IIP data and negative global cues attributed to the stock market decline, said analysts.
Asian and European stocks fell after poor Chinese trade data which gave evidence that the global economy is slowing. Majority of the US stocks ended marginally up on Thursday.