Sensex closes steady...Small-Caps, Mid-Caps dazzle

BSE Sensex ended at 19,591 marginally losing 21 points. While, Nifty ended slightly lower by 6 points at 5,886.

The key Indian equity indices ended almost unchanged on Thursday with the NSE Nifty failing to close above 5900 for the second consecutive trading session amid continued profit taking by traders. The Large-Cap stocks were unable to find any definite direction throughout the day on a low volume day, notwithstanding moderation in food inflation. High crude oil prices, eurozone debt worries and growing speculation of a rate hike by the ECB dampened the sentiment.



IT, Oil & Gas and Telecom stocks were among the major laggards. On the other hand, Realty shares spurted. Select Capital Goods, Pharma, Banking and Metal stocks managed to buck the negative trend.

The Mid-Cap and Small-Cap indices continued to outperform the benchmark indices. The BSE Mid-Cap index gained ~1% and the Small-Cap index rose 1.2%.

"Globally, crude oil remains a source of trepidation amid relentless political turbulence in the so-called MENA region. All of a sudden, world markets are grappling with increasing talk of stimulus exits by central banks in Europe, UK and the US. Rates are already being jacked up in emerging markets.Whether the steady flow of overseas capital stays the course or tapers off will have a bearing on the sentiment. Though FY11 earnings have pretty much been factored in, investors will be all ears to what India Inc. honchos say about FY12," says Amar Ambani, Head of Research (India Private Clients) - IIFL.

The BSE Sensex ended at 19,591 marginally losing 21 points. It had earlier touched a day's high of 19,665 and a day's low of 19,537. It opened at 19,620. While, the NSE Nifty ended slightly lower by 6 points at 5,886.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, the BSE Realty index was the top gainer, the index gained 1.1% followed by BSE Capital Goods index adding 0.5%, while, BSE Pharma index gained 0.4%. BSE Mid-Cap index and BSE Small-Cap index gained 1% and 1.2% respectively.

The European markets were trading with in the red, the FTSE index was down 0.2%, CAC index was down 0.2% and DAX index was down 0.3%.

Outside the index, the major losers were OFSS, Bhushan Steel, NHPC and Voltas. Among the major gainers were Indian Hotels, IVRCL Infra, GMR infra and Aban.