583 stocks hit upper circuit amid subdued market; indices end flat

Shares of as many as 583 stocks, most of them from the small-cap space, were locked at their respective upper circuit on the BSE, in an otherwise subdued market, on Monday. Propelled by this, the BSE SmallCap index hit a new high of 26,168 in the intraday trade on Monday, but closed at 26,068.

Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty, on the other hand, slipped from the day’s highs in the closing hours to end flat as profit-booking in mainly IT and metals shares outweighed hectic buying in banking counters. Registering its third loss in a row, the Sensex ended 13.50 points or 0.03 per cent lower at 52,372.69. Intraday, the index swung nearly 500 points as it touched a high of 52,700.51 and a low of 52,208.96.

While, the broader NSE Nifty inched 2.80 points or 0.02 per cent higher to close at 15,692.60.

Earlier, Siyaram Silk Mills, SML Isuzu, Kitex Garments, Ujjivan Financial Services and Equitas Holdings from the S&P BSE AllCap index were locked in their 20 per cent upper circuit on the BSE. Meanwhile, Vardhman Holdings, Starteck Finance, Expleo Solutions, Zodiac Clothing Company and Vijay Textiles were among the non-index stocks that too were frozen at 20 per cent upper circuit on the BSE.

Of the Sensex constituents, 14 ended in the red and 16 in the green. Bharti Airtel was the top loser, slipping around 1 per cent, followed by Tata Steel, HDFC Bank, Infosys, HDFC, Bajaj Auto and PowerGrid.

Ultratech Cement, ICICI Bank, SBI, Axis Bank, Kotak Bank and IndusInd Bank were key gainers.