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Sensex flat for 3rd day, Nifty ends above 5300

If you missed our coverage, here are the top 10 stories of the day.

IMF managing director Christine Lagarde gives a speech at a special forum preceding in Tokyo.
IMF managing director Christine Lagarde gives a speech at a special forum preceding in Tokyo.

Indian stocks ended on a flat note for the third straight day. The 30-share BSE Sensex gained 37 points or 0.21% to 17,463, while the broader Nifty index advanced 14.60 points to 5,302.55. The Nifty has ended above the key 5,300 mark for the first time since April 19, 2012.

Markets were choppy and the benchmark indices traded in a narrow range in the absence of domestic or global cues. Monsoon worries and rising crude prices weighed on sentiments. However, analysts remained hopeful that markets will break out on the upside post the consolidation.

"Since the markets giving a blowout move on Friday, every day some new sector is catching up. If markets sustain the 5,300 levels, it can move up to 5,420," Anil Manghnani of Modern Shares & Stock Brokers told NDTV Profit.
Today it was the turn of high beta metal (2.1%) and realty (1.9%) stocks to outperform the broader markets. Vedanta Group miners Sterlite Industries (5.3%) and Sesa Goa (4.3%) were the top Nifty gainers. Steel and power major JSPL (3.5%) and state run steel maker SAIL (2.1%) also saw buying interest.

Gains in these stocks indicate the rising risk appetite among investors. DLF (1.7%), India's biggest realty firm, was among the top gainers of on the Nifty index.

19 of the 50 stocks ended lower on the Nifty today. State run oil explorer ONGC (-2%) was the top loser, followed by Asian Paints (-1.7%) and drug maker Dr Reddy's (-1.6%). IT stocks - Wipro (-1.44%) and Infosys (-0.45%) - also saw selling pressure.

European stocks traded lower ahead of the European central bank meeting Thursday, where bankers may decide to cut rates to kick start growth. Earlier, Asian stocks closed mostly higher tracking gains on the Wall Street.

At 3.40 p.m., the rupee traded off the day’s low at 54.50 to the dollar mark.