Domestic shares ended with small gains, continuing their winning streak for a fourth day. Negative cues from global markets and profit booking by investors after a three-day rally kept the key indices under pressure. The Sensex ended below the psychological 36,000 mark after moving above and below that level in intraday trade. The Nifty ended a tad above 10,800 mark.

The Sensex rose 33.29 points or 0.09% to settle at 35,962.93, its highest closing level since 4 December 2018. The index rose 89.38 points, or 0.25% at the day's high of 36,019.02. The index fell 115.79 points, or 0.32% at the day's low of 35,813.85.

The Nifty 50 index rose 13.90 points or 0.13% to settle at 10,805.45, its highest closing level since 4 December 2018. The index rose 24.20 points, or 0.22% at the day's high of 10,815.75. The index fell 39.45 points, or 0.37% at the day's low of 10,752.10.

Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.19 %. The BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.03%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On BSE, 1274 shares rose and 1288 shares fell. A total of 142 shares were unchanged.

Among the sectoral indices on BSE, the S&P BSE Oil & Gas index (up 1.74%), the S&P BSE Power index (up 0.93%), the S&P BSE Teck index (up 0.66%), outperformed the Sensex. The S&P BSE Healthcare index (down 0.81%), the S&P BSE Capital Goods index (down 0.69%), the S&P BSE Consumer Durables index (down 0.31%) underperformed the Sensex.

Housing finance major HDFC fell 1.95%. Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro fell 0.79%.

Bharti Airtel rose 5.32%. Vodafone Idea rose 3.58%. The telecom tribunal reportedly rejected the regulator's order that had changed the definition of 'significant market power' (SMP) to identify predatory pricing, offering substantial relief to India's older telcos, which had said the new rules only benefitted Reliance Jio Infocomm. The Telecom Disputes Settlement & Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) also set aside a rule in the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) predatory pricing regulation that required top telcos to report all tariffs in the interests of transparency and non-discrimination, offering further relief to older carriers Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea.

ONGC rose 2.58% after the company scheduled a board meeting on 20 December 2018 to consider a proposal of buyback of equity shares of the company. The announcement was made during market hours today, 14 December 2018.

Infosys rose 1.31%. Infosys announced the formation of a joint venture with Hitachi, Ltd., Panasonic Corporation and Pasona Inc., strategically enhancing its presence in Japan. Executing on its strategy to help clients navigate their digital journey, the entity formed by complementary, iconic companies coming together, will accelerate business process transformation leveraging digital procurement platforms for the local and global needs of Japanese corporations. The announcement was made during market hours today, 14 December 2018

Infosys will acquire 81% of the shareholding in Hitachi Procurement Service Co., Ltd., Hitachi's fully owned subsidiary that currently handles indirect materials purchasing functions for the Hitachi Group. Hitachi, Panasonic and Pasona will be minority shareholders of the entity.

Indian Oil Corporation rose 3.10%. The company's board approved buyback of equity shares of the company not exceeding 29.76 crore equity shares being approximately 3.06% of the total paid up equity share capital of the company at Rs 149 per share for an aggregate consideration not exceeding Rs 4435 crore on a proportionate basis through the tender offer route. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 13 December 2018.

The board of directors also declared an interim dividend of Rs 6.75 per share for the financial year 2018-19. The company has fixed 25 December 2018 as the record date for the purpose of ascertaining the eligibility of shareholders for payment of interim dividend as well as for buyback of equity shares.

Indian Energy Exchange gained 5.17% after the company scheduled a board meeting on 20 December 2018 to consider share buyback proposal. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 13 December 2018.

The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) central board met today, 14 December 2018, in Mumbai under the chairmanship of Shaktikanta Das, governor, Reserve Bank of India. The central board placed on record its appreciation of the valuable services rendered by Dr. Urjit R. Patel during his tenure as governor and deputy governor of the bank. The board deliberated on the Governance Framework of the Reserve Bank and it was decided that the matter required further examination. The board reviewed, inter alia, the current economic situation, global and domestic challenges, matters relating to liquidity and credit delivery to the economy, and issues related to currency management and financial literacy. The draft report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India (2017-18) was also discussed.

On the macro front, the annual rate of inflation, based on monthly Wholesale Price Index (WPI), stood at 4.64% (provisional) for the month of November 2018 (over November 2017) as compared to 5.28% (provisional) for the previous month and 4.02% during the corresponding month of the previous year, the Ministry of Commerce & Industry said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court today reportedly dismissed pleas to probe India's multi-billion dollar Rafale fighter jet deal with France and said there won't be any probe into the pricing or the decision-making process. The SC bench, led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, said that the need of aircraft and quality of aircraft were not in doubt and detailed scrutiny is not required. The centre has defended the multi-billion deal for 36 Rafale fighter jets and opposed public disclosure of the pricing details. India had signed an agreement with France for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft in a fly-away condition as part of the upgrading process of Indian Air Force equipment. The estimated cost of the deal is Rs 58,000 crore, media reports suggested.

On the political front, the Congress party has reportedly chosen senior leader Kamal Nath, 72, as its chief minister in Madhya Pradesh.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 71.8275, compared with closing of 71.68 during the previous trading session.

In global commodities markets, Brent crude oil futures edged lower. Brent for February 2019 settlement was off 4 cents at $61.41 a barrel.

Overseas, shares in Europe and Asia declined on Friday, amid escalating concerns of a sharp slowdown in the world's second-largest economy. China on Friday reported industrial output and retail sales growth for the month of November. Industrial output in November grew 5.4% from a year ago. That figure was 5.9% in October. Retail sales rose 8.1%, down from 8.6% in October. Fixed asset investment rose 5.9% from January to November. It rose 5.7% from January to October.

In Japan, confidence among Japan's big firms remained unchanged from three months ago, a closely-watched central bank survey showed, but sentiment on the outlook soured for the first time in three quarters as trade frictions and global growth concerns hurt the business mood. The tankan's headline gauge of big manufacturers' sentiment stood at plus 19, unchanged from three months ago. The index for non-manufacturers rose to plus 24 from plus 22 in the September survey.

In Europe, the European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday said it is bringing to an end a crisis-era bond-buying program this month. Bond purchases by the ECB will fall from 15 billion euros ($17.04 billion) a month to zero by the end of December, but the central bank plans to spend cash from maturing bonds to purchase additional debt. The ECB also left benchmark interest rates unchanged.

US stocks closed mostly lower after making small moves in and out of positive territory Thursday as investors continued to fret over the lack of clarity and progress in US-China trade talks.

On the data front, the Labor Department announced Thursday that initial jobless claims fell in the week ended December 8 by 27,000 to 206,000, easing fears that layoffs have been steadily rising. Further, the government also said that US import prices fell 1.6% in November, their largest decline in three years, led by the falling cost of oil.