Sensex ends flat on listless day

The Indian market ended flat on Tuesday at the end of a highly lackluster trading session. Banking and Realty stocks were among the top gainers. On the other hand, IT and Capital Goods stocks remained under pressure.



"The benchmark stock indices remained in a tight trading range throughout the day amid lower trading volume and lack of 'big' news. The market may consolidate for some more time before we see a decisive change in the current pattern,' says Amar Ambani, Vice-President, Research, IIFL.

The BSE Mid-Cap and the BSE Small-Cap indices did slightly better than the main indices but the latter did witness some profit booking.

Asian markets ended mixed with the Nikkei in Japan still reeling from a downbeat GDP report and a stronger yen while China ending higher. The Hang Seng too recovered from session low to gain marginally.

European markets were trading firm and Dow Jones stock futures were also pointing to a higher start on Wall Street.

The Sensex ended unchanged at 18,049. The index hit an intra-day high of 18,140 and an intra-day low of 17,026. While, the NSE Nifty ended flat at 5,414 after touching a high of 5,443 and a low of 5,408.

Markets in Asia ended mixed; the Nikkei in Japan lost 0.4%, Australia's S&P/ASX ended higher by 0.8% and the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong edged higher 0.2% and the Shanghai SE Composite added 0.4%.

European indices were trading in the green, the DAX in Germany was up 1%, the CAC 40 index in France was up 1% and the FTSE in the UK was up 1%.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, BSE Banking index was the top gainer, it was up 1%, followed by BSE Realty index was up 0.2% and BSE PSU index added 0.2%. The Mid-Cap index added 0.6% and the Small-cap index ended higher by 0.4%.

Outside the frontline indices, the big gainers in the broader market were Syndicate Bank, BOB, UCO Bank, Jet Airways and Fortis. On the other hand, loses included Mphasis, KSK Energy, Ackruty City and MMTC.