Sensex, Nifty finish flat…Broader market firm

The Indian stock market ended almost unchanged at the end of a fairly listless session as investors took a breather after a three-day rally. Just when one thought that the bulls would continue to dominate the scene, comes the break in the winning sequence. Markets were unable to hold on to the early gains and broadly traded in a very tight range through the day. The key stock indices turned a little choppy, with the NSE Nifty swing nearly 60 points and the BSE Sensex oscillating close to 150 points between their day’s lows and highs.



Realty, Metals and Consumer Durables stocks were among the prominent gainers. On the other hand, Pharma and Auto stocks were under some bit of pressure.

The Mid-Cap and the Small-Cap stocks actually outperformed the Large Cap counters. The market breadth was positive but volumes were affected by the bank holiday.

"The key question is whether the current upswing will sustain? We may see some consolidation in the run up to the Union Budget. Unless there is follow-up buying by big players, the current rally may run out of gas at some point. At the same time, any fresh downside will be limited," says Amar Ambani, Head of Research (India Private Clients) - IIFL.

The BSE Sensex rose 27 points to end at 17,300 and the NSE Nifty ended unchanged to close at 5,481.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, the BSE Realty index was the top gainer, the index gained 2.1%, BSE Metal index was up 1.5% and BSE Consumer Durables index was up 1%. Even the BSE Mid-Cap and the BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.5% and 1% respectively.

However, BSE Pharma and BSE Auto index modestly lost 0.6% and 0.4% each.

The European markets were trading in the green, the FTSE index was up 0.6%, CAC index was up 0.8% and DAX index was up 0.2%

Outside the frontline indices, the big losers in the broader market were Sintex Ind, Jubilant, M&M Fin and Indian Overseas Bank. On the other hand, gainers included Sun TV, Jain Irrigation, IVRCL Infra and HCC.

Jaiprakash Association, Tata Steel, Jindal Steel, Wipro, Tata Power, L&T, Hindustan Uniliver, SBI, RIL, Sterlite Inds, NTPC, TCS, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and Ambuja Cement are leading in the Sensex and Nifty.

HDFC, RCOM, M&M, Hero Honda, ONGC, Cipla, BHEL, HDFC Bank, DLF, Maruti Suzuki, Dr Reddy, Ranbaxy and HCL Tech are the notable losers in the Sensex and Nifty.