Directionless markets end flat

The Indian markets ended the volatile trade on a flat note with a negative bias, with technology shares leading the decline

Major headlines

Food inflation at 9.18% versus 9.5%

Cairn India dips as Vedanta deal gets delayed

Glenmark Pharma inks pact with Canada's IDC



Indian indices

Indian markets remained lacklustre amid volatile trade and closed the session on a flat note with a negative bias. Investors stayed away from the frontline stocks after the recent upmove. Markets were completely directionless, with no support from the global cues. Technology stocks continued to weigh on the markets.

However, Midcaps and Smallcaps were star performers and outperformed the Sensex. The BSE Midcap went up by 0.98% and the BSE Smallcap rose by 1.25%.

NTPC, ONGC, TCS, Maruti Suzuki and Sterlite Industries led the Sensex losers pack. While, HDFC, Hindalco, Wipro, Tata Power and Bharti Airtel were the major gainers.

The Sensex began the trade on a flat note, down by just 9 points at 19621 on the back of mixed Asian cues. The index traded volatile and hit the day’s low of 19537 in the mid-morning session. Later, the Sensex traded in a tight range amid volatility and the day’s high of 19665 in the afternoon session. The Sensex stood at 19591, down by 21 points and the Nifty declined by 6 points to settle at 5886.

Market sentiment

The market breadth stood positive. Of the 3,041 stocks on the BSE, 1,911 advanced while 1,020 declined. However, 101 stocks remained unchanged.

Viewing volumes

India's second largest real estate developer - Unitech was traded the most, with over 1 crore shares changing hands on the BSE. It was followed by wind turbine major - Suzlon Energy (0.68 crore shares), an integrated infrastructure development company - Lanco Infratech (0.36 crore shares), infrastructure major - GMR Infrastructure (0.32 crore shares) and industrial finance company - IFCI (0.31 crore shares).

Sectoral & stock screening

Out of the 13 sectoral indices, eight closed in the negative territory, while five in the positive zone. BSE Realty stood the top gainer for the second straight day, advancing by 1.12%, followed by BSE Capital Goods (CG) up by 0.53% and BSE Healthcare (HC) rose by 0.42%. On the other side, BSE Information Technology (IT) fell the most by 0.71%, followed by BSE Oil & Gas down by 0.49% and BSE TECk dipped by 0.42%

Among 'A' group stocks, top three gainers were - Indian Hotels gained by 6.98%, IVRCL Infra surged by 5.70% and GMR Infra rose by 5.15%. Top three losers were - Sesa Goa declined by 3.07%, NTPC dropped by 2.61% and ONGC slipped by 2.10%.

Global signals

The European markets traded mixed as traders wary that the Portugal bailout may not signal the end of the euro zone sovereign crisis.

The Asian indices closed the session on a mixed note. China's Shanghai Composite closed up 0.22% at nearly a five-month high.

The US stock index futures point to a subdued opening on the Wall Street on Thursday.