๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ธ ๐— ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐—ข๐˜‚๐˜๐—น๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ: ๐—ž๐—ฒ๐˜† ๐—ง๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ด๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐——๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐—ก๐—ฒ๐˜…๐˜ ๐—ช๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ

Indian benchmark indices closed slightly lower on Friday. The Reserve Bank of India held the repo rate at 5.25%. The central bank kept its neutral policy stance. It raised the inflation forecast and cut GDP growth projections. Foreign institutional investors continued to sell shares.

Ajit Mishra works at Religare Broking. He said the broader market trend stays weak. Heavyweight stocks showed mixed performance. This limited the speed of the decline. Mishra advised a cautious stance. He prefers a sell-on-rise approach. He wants the Nifty index to reclaim 23,700 first.

Global markets will play a big role next week. US stocks posted their sharpest drop in months on Friday. The S&P 500 fell 2.6%. This was its biggest one-day fall since October. It ended a 10-week winning streak. The Dow Jones fell 1.4%. The Nasdaq dropped 4.2%. Tech stocks faced heavy selling.

The sell-off followed a strong US jobs report. The report strengthened expectations the Federal Reserve will keep rates higher for longer.

European markets also closed lower. The STOXX 600 fell 0.3% on Friday and 0.5% for the week. Investors worry about West Asia tensions and energy prices.

Analysts expect the Nifty to trade in a range. It will likely stay between 23,000 and 23,550. A move above 23,556 targets 23,750-23,800.

Key stocks saw action on Friday:

Market breadth was slightly negative. Of 4,399 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,993 rose and 2,212 fell. 194 stayed flat.

Investors will watch RBI policy signals, FII flows, global equity trends, oil prices, and geopolitical news in the week ahead.