Indian shares traded on a flat note on Friday amid muted trade ahead of the Christmas holiday weekend.
The Sensex slipped 57 points to 70,808 in opening deals, while the Nifty 50 edged up 18 points to 21,274.
Realty and metal stocks saw buying interest, with their sectoral indices on the NSE climbing over 1.5% each. Tata Steel and Tata Motors rose on the Sensex while Infosys, HDFC Bank, and TCS traded lower.
Broader markets outperformed benchmarks, with Nifty Smallcap 50 jumping 1.4% and Smallcap 100, and Microcap 250 up over 1% each.
All eyes are on the last trading session of the holiday-truncated week that saw markets recover smartly after sharp falls on Wednesday.
On Thursday, Sensex had rallied 359 points to end at 70,865 and Nifty 50 rebounded 105 points to settle at 21,255 amid volatility.
Analysts expect the ongoing consolidation to continue until the New Year with investors likely to remain on the sidelines due to year-end considerations.
The Indian rupee gained 2 paise to trade near 83.25 per dollar on Friday amid portfolio outflows and high crude oil prices.
