The Sensex ended the day higher by 16 points, while the Nifty gained 2 points in trade. Among the day's top gainers from the Nifty were Bharti Airtel, DLF, Wipro, Reliance Infra, Power Grid, PNB and Infosys.

The losers from the index stocks were heavyweights including ITC, Hindustan Unilever, HDFC and Tata Motors. Other Nifty stocks that lost ground in trade were BHEL, Dr Reddy's, BPCL and Bank of Baroda.

Shares of HDFC were badly hit after the company was downgraded by Goldman Sachs on concerns of competition and slow economic growth rate in the country.

Shares of HeroMotor Corp dropped after reports that workers at the company planned to go on a hunger strike for increase in wages.

Jet Airways declined sharply for the second day in a row as investors got increasingly nervous of a deal with Abu Dhabi based Etihad going through

Gitanjali Gems saw buying interest after its board approved funds via Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds (FCCBs).

Realty stocks once gained on favourable news reports and improving prospects for the industry. Apart from DLF, Parsvnath, Unitech, Oberoi, Indiabulls and HDIL gaining.

Metal stocks on the other hand continued to have a bad day with Hindalco Industries, Sterlite Industries, Welspun and Jindal Saw all declining in trade.

Pharma stocks on the other hand saw buying support with Cadilla, Lupin and Piramal gaining ground.

Meanwhile, most of the markets in Asia ended the day with gains, except the Shanghai and the Hong Kong markets which ended the day lower.

European markets were higher after the huge fall witnessed on Thursday. The German DAX, French CAC and the UK's FTSE were all in the green.

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