Sensex struggles to a flat close

The Indian markets seem to have gone into a sleep mode this week and continue to consolidate in a narrow trading channel amid light volumes. The benchmark Indian equity indices ended almost unchanged on Wednesday at the end of a highly insipid and choppy trading session. Traders and investors continue to be circumspect ahead of quarterly earnings which would start rolling in from Friday.

The overall market sentiment has turned sluggish this week and volumes have subsided substantially after last week’s surprisingly robust rally.



Among the BSE Sectoral indices, BSE Banking index was the top loser, the index lost 1%, PSU index slipped 0.5% and BSE Pharma index was down 0.5%. Among the major gainers were, BSE Consumer Durables index gained 1.4% and BSE Capital Goods index gained 0.5%.

The shares of Spice MobilityLtd. HT media and Sasken Communications witnessed a spurt in trading volumes.

Within the Sensex and Nifty,Tata Motors, HDFC, Hindalco, Bajaj Auto, RIL and L&T were the top gainers,while RCOMM, Tata Power, ICICI and Hero Honda were the notable losers.

The shares of CRISIL, HDFCbank and V.I.P Industries Ltd. touched new all time highs.

Globally, Europe is still grappling with the sovereign debt issues, despite Greece averting a default. S&P has warned that any rollover of Greek debt will amount to "selective default". Meanwhile, Moody’s has cut Portugal’s credit rating to junk. Even the US is facing a deficit-cum-debt problem. A fierce tug-of-war is underway between the Obama administration and the Republicans.

"Investors are sticking to a ‘wait-and-watch’ approach in the run up to the latest corporate results. Also, the macro-economic fundamentals haven’t changed much and policy making is still in a limbo. The only positive factor is the turnaround in FII flows. At the same time, local funds have been net sellers," says Amar Ambani, Head of Research, IIFL - India Private Clients.

The BSE Sensex ended at 18,727 losing 18 points. It had earlier touched a day's high of 18,823 and a day's low of 18,682. It opened at 18,730.

The NSE Nifty closed at 5,625, losing 7 points. It had touched a day's low of 5,610 and a day's high of 5,655. It opened at 5,622.

Outside the main indexes, the major losers were IRB Infra, Castrol India, Voltas, Canara Bank and BF Utilities.

Among the major gainers in the broader market were Bharat Forge, Torrent Power, Titan and Essar Oil.