Sensex ends choppy session on a flat note

The Sensex ended the volatile session on a flat note. Consumer durables stocks were in the limelight, whereas metal, banking, and realty stocks edged lower. It opened with a loss of 58.05 points, at 15,711.80 on Thursday tracking negative global cues. The index was hovering around the red line. Later the benchmark index recovered and entered into the positive terrain on buying seen in frontliners. It continued to trade in the positive territory, fluctuating back into the red, only to end marginally higher.

BSE Midcap index and Smallcap index rose 0.38% and 0.42% respectively.

On sectoral front, BSE Consumer durables surged 4.11%, Capital goods rose 1.16%, whereas Metal declined 0.88%, Bankex dipped 0.57% and Realty down 0.26%.

Inflation rose to (-) 0.95% for the week ended on Aug. 15, 2009 from (-) 1.53% in the previous week on the back of rising food prices. The wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation remained negative for the 11th consecutive week since June 06 mainly on high base.

On global front, European stocks slipped as speculation that the American economy shrank at a faster pace than previously estimated offset better-than-projected earnings at Credit Agricole. Standard & Poor`s 500 Index futures retreated 0.1%. UK`s benchmark index FTSE 100 fell 6.61 points, or 0.14%, to trade at 4,883.83. French benchmark index CAC 40 dipped 4.23 points, or 0.12%, to trade 3,664.34. Germany`s benchmark index DAX decreased 32.25 points, or 0.58%, to trade at 5,489.88. (4.20 p.m., IST)

Asian stocks fell after China said it may curb production in the steel and cement industries and Esprit Holdings reported lower profit. Japanese benchmark index Nikkei fell 165.74 points, or 1.56%, to end at 10,473.97. Hong Kong`s Hang Seng index declined 213.57 points, or 1.04%, to close at 20,242.75. China`s Shanghai Composite decreased 21.20 points, or 0.71% to settle at 2,946.40.

Sensex ended the day with a gain of 11.22 points, or 0.07% at 15,781.07 after touching a high of 15,853.71 and a low of 15,685.49. The broad-based NSE Nifty climbed 7.35 points, or 0.16% at 4,688.20 after hitting a high of 4,707.90 and a low of 4,645.15

Major gainers in the 30-share index were Bharti Airtel (2.74%), Wipro (2.01%), Tata Power Company (1.70%), Larsen & Toubro (1.56%), Sterlite Industries (India) (1.45%), and Bharat Heavy Electricals (1.34%).

On the other hand, Tata Steel (5.14%), Tata Motors (2.55%), Hindustan Unilever (2.32%), Hero Honda Motors (1.77%), DLF (1.68%), and Reliance Communications (1.50%) were the major losers in the Sensex.

Overall market breadth was positive. Out of the total 2,845 stocks traded at BSE, 1,638 advanced, 1,128 declined while 79 remained unchanged.