Sensex, Nifty End On Flat Note; Mid- And Small-Cap Shares Outperform

The Indian equity benchmarks ended on a flat note on Monday but mid- and small-cap shares outperformed their larger peers. The benchmarks staged a gap up opening taking cues from positive global cues wherein the Sensex rose as much as 314 points and Nifty 50 index moved above 15,700. However, selling pressure in heavyweights like Infosys, HDFC Bank, HDFC, Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel and Hindustan Unilever were offset with gains in ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, UltraTech Cement and Axis Bank.

The Sensex ended 13 points lower at 52,372.69 and Nifty 50 index rose 3 points to close at 15,693.

European markets were trading with a negative bias. Germany's DAX fell 0.2 per cent, France's CAC40 index declined 0.51 per cent and England's FTSE100 index slipped 0.5 per cent.

"We witnessed a bounce back in the market from the support level of 15650. 15800 will be a keep resistance level. If the market breaches and sustains above the level, we can witness a positive movement in the market till the level of 16,100-16,150. On the sectoral front, all the major sectors have been trading in a positive zone. Shreecem and JSW Steel are the top gainers while Bharti Airtel and BPCL are the top losers on Nifty," Gaurav Garg, Head of Research, CapitalVia Global Research told NDTV.

Mid- and small-cap shares outperformed their larger peers as Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices advanced 0.44 and 0.51 per cent each respectively.

Eight of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended higher led by the Nifty Realty index's over 3.5 per cent gain. Nifty Private Bank, Bank, Auto and Financial Services indexes also rose between 0.2-0.4 per cent.

On the other hand, Metal, Media and IT indices ended lower.

UltraTech Cement was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 2.5 per cent to close at Rs 7,070. Grasim Industries, Shree Cements, JSW Steel, SBI Life, Tata Consumer Products, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, IndusInd Bank and Axis Bank were also among the gainers.

On the flipside, Bharat Petroleum, Bharti Airtel, Adani Ports, HDFC Bank, Hindalco, Power Grid, Hindustan Unilever, HDFC and Asian Paints were among the losers.

The overall market breadth was positive as 2,058 shares ended higher while 1,265 closed lower on the BSE.