Mixed trends from global bourses led to a patchy Friday trade session at the Bombay Stock benchmark Sensex, which finally closed at 17,554.30, marking a drop of 30.57 points. With investors being exceedingly selective about their buying, the Sensex hardly had any chances of making any notable progress during the day.

Showing signs of rising in early trade by advancing to 17,639.85, the Sensex ended the day at 17,554.30 - the figure being approximately 25 points down from the day's low, thereby spelling a loss of 30.57 points or 0.17 percent.

According to brokers, the fall in the 30-share index largely resulted from the cautiousness of the investors who expected TCS and HDFC Bank to announce their third quarter earnings late Friday evening.

Overall, out of the 30 Sensex stocks, 18 stocks closed with losses; while 12 ended with gains. Specifically, some of the FMCG, bank and pharma stocks witnessed good support at lower levels; and auto, information technology and power stocks closed off their lows; while metal, capital goods and oil stocks mostly struggled throughout the trading session.

Meanwhile, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty also dropped by 0.15 percent or 7.70 points to 5,252.20 - after reaching a high of 5279.85 and falling to a low of 5242.45, in the intra-day trades.