Sensex closes flat; capital goods, metal stocks rally

Mumbai  : A benchmark index for Indian equities markets closed Monday’s trade flat, even as capital goods, metal and realty stocks gained.

The 30-scrip Sensex, which opened at 19,496.25 points, closed at 19,501.08 points, up 32.93 points or 0.17 percent from its previous close at 19,468.15 points.

The Sensex touched an intra-day high of 19,554.48 points and a low of 19,462.92 points. The midcap index was up 27.81 points, while the smallcap index was higher by 46.56 points.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was trading higher by 10.80 points or 0.18 percent at 5,898.20 points.

There was healthy buying in capital goods, metal and realty scrips, while information technology (IT), technology, entertainment and media (TECk) and consumer durables stocks plummetted.

The capital goods index was up 114.79 points, followed by the media index, up 48.58 points, and the realty index, up 42.27 points.

Other major indices like the IT index was down 31.98 points. And so were the TECk index, down 17.80 points and consumer durables, lower by 16.29 points.

The major Sensex gainers were Tata Steel, up 2.49 percent at Rs.385.30; Hindustan Unilever, up 1.89 percent at Rs.470.10; Sterlite Inds, up 1.76 percent at Rs.101; Larsen and Toubro (L&T), up 1.57 percent at Rs.1,466.55; and HDFC, up 1.47 percent at Rs.822.80.

Thirteen of the 30 Sensex scrips declined. These included Jindal Steel, down 1.81 percent at Rs.379.30; Coal India, down 1.77 percent at Rs.343.45; ONGC, down 1.35 percent at Rs.317.45; Dr Reddy’s Lab, down 1.24 percent at Rs.1,795.50; and Bajaj Auto, down 1.17 percent at Rs.1,950.95.

Among other Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei closed 2.09 percent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended 0.27 percent down. China’s Shanghai Composite Index closed 0.45 percent down.

In Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.09 percent, while the German DAX was trading 0.16 percent higher. The French CAC 40 was down 0.19 percent.