Provisional: Volatile markets end flat

Metal and banking stocks shine

Markets ended toady's volatile session on a flat note. The 30-share index- Sensex ended weaker by 40 points or 0.2% at 19,956 and the 50-share Nifty advanced 7 points to close at 5,903.
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(Updated at 1445 hours)

Markets have recovered most of its losses in the late noon deals on the back of buying visible in the metal and banking stocks. The Sensex is down 33 points at 19,964 and the 50-share Nifty is trading weaker by 4 points at 5,893.

Earlier in the day, the markets witnessed profit booking and the Sensex touched and intra-day low of 19,777 and he Nifty dipped to 5832.

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(Updated at 1407 hours)

Benchmark indices continue to remain weak amid volatility led by profit booking among index heavyweight shares at higher levels. Indices gained over 10% during last four consecutive trading sessions.

At 1405 hrs, the Sensex was down 171 points at 19,826 and the Nifty slipped 43 points to trade at 5,854.

According to Ravi Nathani, Technical analyst, Nsetoday.com, “Markets are expected to rise in near term whereas resistance on charts is expected around 5,940 & 5,990 & 6,040. With a strict stoploss of 5,820 on closing basis one must buy on dips for near term.”

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers of Indian shares for a fourth consecutive session on Tuesday.

On the global front, Japan's Nikkei average ended little changed on Wednesday, after hitting a seven-week high on receding worries over Syria and the yen's slide against the dollar, with profit-taking in recently strong Olympics-related shares eroding early gains.

The benchmark Nikkei was virtually flat at 14,425.07, after rising to as high as 14,561.46, its highest intra-day level since July 25.

Meanwhile, European markets have opened mixed.

Back home, the rupee strengthened marginally in afternoon trades due to dollar sale by exporters and Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) investing in domestic markets.

At 13:50 pm, the rupee was trading at Rs 63.30 compared with previous close of Rs 63.84 per dollar.

On the sectoral front, BSE FMCG, Oil & Gas, Consumer Durables and Power indices have declined between 1-1.4%. However, BSE Metal, Realty, PSU, Healthcare and Capital Goods indices have declined between 1-2%.

The main losers on the Sensex at this hour include Tata Motors, Cipla, HDFC, Bharti Airtel, ITC, HUL, ONGC, BHEL and ICICI Bank, all falling down between 1-3%.

On the gaining side, Hindalco, Tata Steel, SBI, Sesa Goa and Sun Pharma have surged between 2-3%.

Among other shares, Financial Technologies (India)  has soared over 26% at Rs 183 in noon deals on back of heavy volumes.

The broader markets are outperforming the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices have gained between 0.7-1%.

The market breadth in BSE remains firm with 1,173 shares advancing and 976 shares declining.