Sensex, Nifty End Flat; SBI Falls Over 2%

Sensex and Nifty ended flat on Wednesday as investors turned cautious ahead of a slew of corporate results, particularly banks, although a forecast for an average monsoon gave a leg-up to market sentiment.

The focus is now on the financial sector this week - with Yes Bank Ltd and HDFC Bank Ltd due to report results - after mixed fortunes at IT blue chips that have already reported earnings.

Infosys Ltd was down for a fourth consecutive session, dropping about 5 percent since issuing a lower-than-expected revenue guidance for the year last week, while Tata Consultancy Services Ltd fell as much as 2.43 percent after earnings marginally beat expectations on Tuesday.

"Results season has started and results for some of the sectors are expected to be subdued," said Siddhartha Khemka, head of research at Centrum Wealth.

"Investors could be cautious given that markets are closer to their highs."

Sentiment however was supported after weather office said on Tuesday that monsoon rains would be of an average amount in 2017, easing concerns over farm and economic growth.

"Hopes of a consumption recovery in the second half of the year are holding up the markets from a long-term perspective," Khemka said, adding a good monsoon would bode well for the economy.

The Nifty ended 1.65 points lower at 9,103 and the Sensex jumped 0.06 percent or 17 points to end at 29,336.

Financial stocks were among the top losers on the Nifty. State Bank of India was the top loser, down 2.15 percent. ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank and Bank of Baroda were also among the laggards.

National Aluminium Co Ltd slumped as much as 7.08 percent to its lowest since March 8 after the miner said on Tuesday as the government launched a share sale of up to 10 percent stake in the company.

The broader markets outperformed the benchmark indices as the mid-cap and small-cap indices ended 0.7 percent higher on the BSE.