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Rangebound Sensex Ends on a Flat Note; HUL Top Nifty Gainer
24 Feb 2015, 04:05 PM IST 
The BSE benchmark- Sensex ended Tuesday's rangebound session on a flat note amid high drama in Parliament after the government tabled Land Acquisition Bill.
The 50-share Nifty managed to close above its crucial psychological level of 8,850 supported by gains in Hindustan Unilever, ITC and Larsen & Toubro.
The government today tabled the Land Acquisition Bill in the Parliament. The controversial law for which the government took the ordinance route is very crucial for the government's proposed reform programme. After tabling the bill, opposition registered protest against the government and staged walk out from the Parliament.
Meanwhile, the broader markets underperformed the benchmark indices. The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices closed lower by 0.2 and 0.8 per cent each.
FMCG and capital goods stocks witnessed buying in today's session both the indices closed higher by over 1 per cent each. At the same time, led by losses in the heavyweights like ONGC and Reliance Industries the oil & gas index slipped 1.15 per cent. Metal, banking and auto stocks also faced the heat of selling pressure.
From the Nifty basket, Hindustan Unilver was the top gainer. The stock gained 3.2 per cent to close at Rs 914. Kotak Mahindra Bank, Larsen & Toubro, BHEL, ITC, Cipla and GAIL India also advanced 1-2.6 per cent each. On the other hand, Jindal Steel was the top Nifty loser, stock slipped 5.2 per cent to Rs 181. Cairn India, Sesa Sterlite, Bank of Baroda, ONGC, Reliance Industries and Bharti Airtel were also among the laggards.
The overall market breadth was negative as 1,720 stocks declined while 1,150 advanced.
The Sensex finally closed 29 points higher at 29,005 and the 50-share Nifty advanced 7 points to shut shop at 8,762.