The Sensex and Nifty 50 closed higher on Friday, driven by gains in banking and auto sectors. The market showed low volatility with value-buying in select heavyweights amidst mixed global signals.

The Sensex closed unchanged at 78,472, while the Nifty edged 23 points higher to settle at 23,750. This marks the third consecutive series of losses for the markets, the first such instance in 21 months,

January typically tends to be a slower month according to the past decade’s seasonality, with Nifty often closing in the red 70 per cent of the time.