Market ends flat

The Sensex took a breather as investors remained on the sidelines ahead of the corporate results season that begins this week. The Sensex has gained almost 700 points in the last four sessions on the back of firm international markets. However the market was range-bound through the day. The Sensex resumed 58 points higher at 13236, but eased amid volatile moves on selling in heavyweight and information technology stocks in the afternoon and touched the day's low at 13075. Some late buying at lower levels saw the Sensex shed its losses and close the session on a positive note with marginal gains. The Sensex closed at 13190, up 12 points, while the Nifty gained five points and closed at 3848.

The breadth of the market was positive. Of the 2,649 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,575 stocks advanced, 1,006 stocks declined and 68 stocks ended unchanged. Among the sectoral indices the BSE FMCG Index advanced 2.18% at 1813 followed by the BSE Metal Index (up 1.07% at 9000). However, the BSE IT Index and the BSE Teck Index closed in negative territory.

Select blue chips notched up significant gains. HDFC rose 3.38% at Rs1,608, ITC advanced 2.90% at Rs159, HLL climbed 2.55% at Rs209, Tata Motors surged 2.44% at Rs721, HDFC Bank gained 2.05% at Rs992, Ranbaxy added 1.91% at Rs358, Grasim jumped 1.85% at Rs2,236, BHEL advanced 1.59% at Rs2,463 and ONGC was up 0.79% at Rs874. Among the laggards Satyam Computers tumbled 3.53% at Rs445, Wipro slipped 2.41% at Rs548 and Infosys dropped 2.25% at Rs1,998. TCS, Dr Reddy's, Bajaj Auto, NTPC, L&T, Cipla and Reliance Energy ended with marginal losses.

Fast moving consumer goods stocks were in the limelight. Godrej Consumer Products soared 4.16% at Rs156, Bata India jumped 3.53% at Rs148, United Spirits gained 2.29% at Rs846, Colgate advanced 1.62% at Rs345 and Proctor & Gamble was up 1.22% at Rs786. Glaxo, Britannia and Dabur India ended with marginal gains.

Over 1.87 crore IFCI shares changed hands on the BSE followed by India Bulls (96.25 lakh shares), India Bulls Real Estate (78.79 lakh shares), Tele Data India (39.61 lakh shares) and Himachal Futuristic (35.88 lakh shares).

Value-wise India Bulls registered a turnover of Rs479 crore on the BSE followed by India Bulls Real Estate (Rs221 crore), Tata Steel (Rs167 crore), Mind Tree (Rs146 crore) and Tata Motors (Rs92 crore).