Benchmark equity indices on Friday recovered the majority of their intraday losses  and finished flat, owing to buying in index heavyweights such as SBI, ITC, and ICICI Bank. The BSE Sensex and Nifty both opened lower and spent the majority of the day in the red, tracking lower global benchmarks. Last-minute buying, on the other hand, helped indices recoup most of their losses and close marginally lower. The BSE Sensex ended the day 20.46 points (0.03 percent) lower at 58,786.67, while the NSE benchmark Nifty50 index ended the day 5.55 points (0.03 percent) lower at 17,511.30. PSU banks, commodities, and real estate stocks outperformed other sectors and benchmark indices, respectively.

Asian Paints was the highest gainer among Nifty equities, rising 3.29 percent, followed by SBI and SBI Life Insurance, which rose 1.40 percent and 1.24 percent, respectively. Other gainers in the 50-share index included Mahindra and Mahindra, Bajaj Finserv, BPCL, ICICI Bank, ITC, IOC, Tata Steel, ONGC, Bajaj Finance, and Reliance Industries.

The Nifty's biggest loss was Divis Labs, which slipped 1.57 percent, followed by Titan Company and HDFC, both sank 1.39 percent and 1.18 percent. Other notable Nifty losers included Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tata Consumer Products, Coal India, Axis Bank, Wipro, UPL, Eicher Motors, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, and Bharti Airtel. Today's market breadth was favourable, with 2,099 equities rising, 1,170 falling, and 124 remaining unchanged out of 3,393 traded on the BSE.

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