Sensex closes flat; PSU, metal stocks lose

Mumbai  :  A benchmark index for Indian equities markets Monday closed flat as public sector undertakings (PSU), metal and healthcare stocks came under selling pressure.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex closed to its three-week low. The markets remained choppy amidst lower than expectation quarterly results from IDFC and Bank of Baroda as well as profit booking on some of last week’s gainers.

The 30-scrip Sensex, which opened at 19,860.97 points, closed at 19,751.19 points, down 30.00 points or 0.15 percent from its previous close at 19,781.19 points.

The Sensex touched an intra-day high of 19,902.60 points and a low of 19,728.21 points. The midcap index was down 57.92 points, while the smallcap index was lower by 49.75 points.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was trading lower by 11.65 points or 0.19 percent at 5,987.25 points.

There was heavy selling pressure in the PSU, metal and healthcare stocks. The PSU index was down 118.55 points followed by the metal index, down 116.93 points, and the healthcare index, down 113.33 points.

But the automobile index was up 51.15 points.

The major Sensex gainers were HDFC, up 2.49 percent at Rs.798.00; Tata Motors, up 2.40 percent at Rs.291.85; ICICI Bank, up 0.94 percent at Rs.1,182.05; Jindal Steel, up 0.61 percent at Rs.418.05; and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), up 0.46 percent at Rs.1,352.65.

Twenty of the 30 Sensex scrips declined. These included BHEL, down 2.73 percent at Rs.219.20; Cipla, down 2.64 percent at Rs.402.75; State Bank of India (SBI), down 2.41 percent at Rs.2,351.85; Tata Power, down 2.29 percent at Rs.100.30; and ONGC, down 2.80 percent at Rs.325.55.

Among other Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei was up 0.62 percent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended 0.16 percent lower. China’s Shanghai Composite Index closed 0.38 percent up.

In Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.53 percent, while the German DAX was trading 0.47 percent lower. The French CAC 40 was down 0.80 percent.