Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended flat with positive bias on Friday. Index made a positive start and maintained its firm trade for the most part of the session, tracking firm cues from global markets after dovish comments from Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller prompted traders to scale back expectations of a rate increase this month. Besides, traders took support with the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) data showing that surplus liquidity in the banking system has surged to a record high of Rs 9.71 lakh crore, boosted by flows received under the FCNR (B) scheme of the RBI. However, in last leg of the session, Nifty pared some of its gains and ended below 23,900 mark.
Traders were seen piling up positions in Metal, Cement and Media stocks, while selling was witnessed in Realty, Chemicals and Pharma. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Angel One, APL Apollo Tubes and Vodafone Idea. On the other hand, the top losers were KEI Industries, Polycab India and Havells India. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 24900 - 25100 calls and 23900 - 24100 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.
