In India, however, the Nifty continues to climb a wall of worry as general elections loom, fiscal deficit surges and the current account deficit is barely under control following subdued gold and crude prices, says Sonali Ranade.
Muted global trend after a report that US President Donald Trump was preparing to impose more tariffs on China hurt trading sentiments.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended 46 points lower at 24,824 and Nifty50 settled at 7,555, down by 8 points after hitting intra-day high of 7,600.45.
Among the gainers, Sun Pharma topped by rising 3.03 per cent as the weak rupee tempted buyers to accumulate shares of pharma exporters.
The broader NSE Nifty too fell below the 10,100 level by dropping 100.10 points to end at 10,094.25
The Nikkei India Manufacturing PMI dipped from 50.3 in November to 49.1 in December.
Sun Pharma was by far the biggest gainer in the Sensex pack, surging 8.13 per cent, followed by Dr Reddy's at 4.92 per cent.
The 50-issue NSE Nifty too cracked the 10,200-mark and hit a low of 10,108.55 before finishing 104.75 points, or 1.02 per cent down at 10,121.80.
The BSE Sensex zoomed 318 points to end at 33,351.57, while the broader Nifty spurted 88 points to 10,242.65.
Sun Pharma was the best gainer among Sensex components, surging 6.91 per cent
Japan will offer more than $8.11 billion in loans to construct India's high speed rail network.
The euro climbed 1.3 percent against the yen to 135.60 and added 0.7 percent against the dollar to trade at $1.1115.
Fresh buying by domestic institutional investors and better-than-expected June quarter results from some blue-chip companies boosted investor sentiment
Broader market outperformed the benchmark indices with S&P BSE Midcap gaining over 1%
The broader markets also ended lower in line with the benchmark indices
The S&P BSE Midcap and the S&P BSE Smallcap indices under-performed to lose 0.8% and 1.6%
The NSE 50-share Nifty spurted 97.25 points, or 0.92 per cent, to 10,715.50
The sentiment got support from better-than-expected earning results by select companies and continuous buying by domestic financial institutions.
The Nifty PSU Bank pared losses to end flat after falling as much as 1.05%
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ITC, Infosys, Wipro and HDFC Bank among the major losers.
The S&P BSE Midcap and the S&P BSE Smallcap indices gained 0.3% and 0.5%, respectively
The Sensex and Nifty remained above their key levels of 36,000 and 10,900 throughout the session, indicating strong investor optimism after a prolonged spell of caution.
Banking stocks felt the heat due to worries that the lending rate cuts will hit their bottom line
Most of the session's gains for both the indices were wiped out as investors rushed to book profits ahead of F&O expiry on Thursday and also due to concerns over stretched valuations.
Shares of IT companies were in focus with the Nifty IT and S&P BSE IT index gaining more than 2% in an otherwise lower market
Bajaj Auto was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, surging 3.95 per cent followed by Maruti Suzuki at 2.69 per cent.
S&P BSE Sensex settled at 31,170, up 60 points, while the broader Nifty50 closed at record high for third straight session. It ended at 9,624, up 19 points.
Broader market underperformed the headline indices with BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap finishing in red
Extending losses for 7th session, Nifty fell below the 8,000 mark for the first time since Nov 25
S&P BSE Midcap and the S&P BSE Smallcap indices gained 2% and 1.6% respectively
Out of the 30-share Sensex pack, 21 ended lower and one remained unchanged
The Sensex was up 70 points and the Nifty was up 20 points led by SBI on robust Q2 earnings.
Firms hired additional hands to keep up with the production demand
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Midcap added over 1% to finish at record closing high
The BSE gauge Sensex fell 73.88 points to 35,548.26 and the NSE Nifty slid 17.85 points to 10,799.85, taking cues from tumbling global shares.
The broad-based NSE Nifty rose 52.80 points, or 0.50 per cent, to end at 10,530.70
Tata Steel was the day's worst performer in the Sensex pack, plunging 3.25 per cent, followed by Bharti Airtel at 3.05 per cent.
Investors lost around Rs 1.57 lakh crore in market valuation on Friday.
BSE Healthcare, Oil & Gas, Consumer Durable, TECk, Power and Metal indices declined between 0.5-1%.
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