Sensex, Nifty End Flat; Banking Shares Fall, IT Stocks Gain

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes ended on a fat note in trade on Thursday as gains in information technology, auto and consumer durable shares were offset with losses in banking, metal, energy and financial services shares. The benchmarks traded in a range bound manner for most part of the day owing to volatility as weekly index future and option contracts expired today, analysts said. The Sensex traded in a range of 293 points and Nifty touched an intraday high of 11,584.95 and low of 11,507.65.

The Sensex ended 95 points or 0.2 per cent lower at 38,991 and Nifty closed 0.07 per cent or 8 points lower at 11,527.

Twelve of 19 sector gauges compiled by the BSE ended higher led by the S&P BSE Consumer Durables index's 3.5 per cent gain. Capital goods, information technology, telecom, auto and industrial stocks also witnessed buying interest.

On the other hand, banking and financial services shares witnessed selling pressure as traders and investors stayed on sideline as the hearing on loan moratorium case was being heard in the Supreme Court. Energy, power, metal and oil & gas shares also witnessed selling pressure.

Mid- and small-cap shares outperformed their larger peers as S&P BSE MidCap index rose 0.4 per cent and S&P BSE SmallCap index rose 0.74 per cent.

Among the individual shares, Vodafone Idea rallied as much as 30 per cent to hit an intraday high of Rs 12.85 after a report suggested that Amazon and US-based telecom company - Verizon - have resumed talks to buy stake in the company. Meanwhile, the company's board will be meeting tomorrow to consider fund raising plan.

Bharti Infratel was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 11 per cent to close at Rs 218. Grasim Industries, Titan, UPL, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Nestle India, Eicher Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Asian Paints, Infosys and TCS also rose between 1-7 per cent.

On the flipside, ICICI Bank, Bhaarti Airtel, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Power Grid, Hindalco, ONGC, Bajaj Finance, Britannia and State Bank of India were among the losers.