Markets end flat amid rangebound trade

Key share indices ended flat amid range bound trade on Monday weighed by index heavyweight Reliance Industries and investors await central bank's stance on key rates at the third quarter policy review tomorrow.

The 30-share Sensex provisionally ended down 5 points at 16,734 and the 50-share Nifty ended down 7 points at  5,042 

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(Updated at 14:22hrs)

Markets continue to maintain the volatile activity with the Sensex and the Nifty hovering around 16,800 mark and 5,050 levels, respectively. At 1420 hrs, the Sensex was up 6 points at 16,744 and they Nifty slipped 6 points at 5,041 levels.

On the global front, the Nikkei ended marginally lower at 8,766, cutting short a four-day winning streak after Greece and its creditors failed to reach a deal over the weekend to avoid a default. European markets have opened on a marginally positive note.

Back home, counters like Capital Goods, Power, FMCG, Realty and Banks have gained by nearly 1% each. However, BSE Oil & Gas and Metal indices have fallen between 1-2%.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries has dropped by nearly 3% after poor Q3 results. 

Metal stocks have lost ground after LMEX, a gauge of six metals traded on the London Metal Exchange dropped 1.06% on Friday. Sterlite is the top Sensex loser, down 4%. Hindalco, Coal India and Tata Steel have melted between 2-3%.

On the gaining side, BHEL is the top Sensex gainer, up by almost 3%. Larsen and Toubro (L&T) has gained 2% at Rs 1,297 and has gained 6% from the day’s low of Rs 1,226 after reporting strong 28% year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in order inflow at Rs 17,129 crore for the quarter ended December 2011, as compared to Rs 13,366 crore in the corresponding quarter of previous fiscal.

Power stocks like NTPC and Tata Power have gained between 1-2% after Manmohan Singh last week pledged help on chronic power shortages in the country after holding a meeting with business leaders on that day.

FMCG major ITC has rebounded by nearly 1% after slumping by over 34% on Friday. The company reported 22.45% growth in net profit to Rs 1,700.98 crore. HUL has surged by nearly 2%.

From the financial space, ICICI Bank has surged by almost 2%. HDFC and SBI have gained by nearly 1%.

Among Auto segment, Hero MotoCorp, Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors have declined between 1-3%.

However, the broader markets are outperforming the benchmark indices, both gaining by nearly 0.4%.

The overall market breadth in BSE remains positive with 1,417 shares advancing and 1,227 shares declining.