Sensex ends flat amid volatile trade

Markets ended flat, amid a volatile trading session on Monday, as gains in TCS and metal shares helped offset most of the losses in financials

Markets ended flat, amid a volatile trading session on Monday, as gains in TCS and metal shares helped offset most of the losses from financials and index heavyweight Reliance Industries.

The 30-share Sensex ended down 21 points at 19,895 after hitting a high of 19,921 and a low of 19,648 and the 50-share Nifty ended down 1 point at 5,906 after hitting a high of 5,912 and a low of 5,826.

Meanwhile, global stocks continue to remain weak as the stand-off between US lawmakers over the budget and rising worries of an agreement over increase in borrowing limits to avoid debt default weighed on investor sentiment.

Asian shares ended lower. The World Bank reduced its 2013 and 2014 economic growth forecasts for China and most of developing East Asia on Monday, citing slower growth in the world's most populous nation as well as weaker commodity prices that have hurt exports and investments in countries such as Indonesia. The Hang Seng, Nikkei and Straits Times ended down 0.1-1.2% each.

European shares also traded weak with CAC-40, DAX and FTSE-100 down over 0.8% each.

The rupee's weakness continued in afternoon trades due to dollar demand from corporates and importers. Besides that there is dollar buying by state-run banks on behalf of the central bank to boost foreign exchange reserves.

At 3:40 pm the rupee was trading at Rs 61.86 compared with Friday's close of Rs 61.44 per dollar.

BSE Bankex was the top loser among the sectoral indices on the BSE down over 1% followed by Realty, Capital Goods, Realty, Consumer Durables, Oil and Gas among others. BSE IT, Healthcare and Metal indices ended marginally up.

Bank shares remained weak amid asset quality concerns and worries that credit growth could be under pressure on the back of slowing domestic economy. ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, HDFC and SBI ended down 1-1.5% each contributing the most to the Sensex decline.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries ended down 1% along with L&T, Tata Motors, Coal India and Bharti Airtel.

Metal shares were up after encouraging data from China and on hopes of higher net profit growth on sequential basis. Tata Steel and Hindalco ended up 3-4% each. SAIL and Jindal Steel ended up 1.6-2% each.

Coal India ended down 3.2% on reports that the company’s 5% follow-on public offer (FPO) is likely to hit the market by the second week of December. The government, which currently holds a 90% stake in Coal India, intends to sell more than 315 million shares through an offer for sale or OFS through the stock exchanges.

IT majors were up as the rupee weakend against the US dollar. TCS and Infosys were up 0.1-2.5% each. However, Wipro ended marginally lower.

In the pharma space, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's Labs and Cipla ended up 0.4-0.7% each.

Among other shares, Just Dial slumped 9.7% to end at Rs 928 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), with the stock sliding on profit booking after rallied over 50% in past one month.

Shares of select non-banking finance companies (NBFC) that applied for the banking licenses are trading higher by up to 4% in otherwise weak market after Finance Minister P Chidambaram said that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) would shortly issue seven licenses.

L&T Finance Holdings and Srei Infrastructure Finance ended up 2-9% on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Bombay Dyeing and Manufacturing Company surged 12.5% to end at Rs 60 on reports that  global private equity (PE) firms are eyeing stake in the Wadia Group firm.

Godrej Properties ended up 2.5% at Rs 383 after the company said it has entered into a joint venture with Ador Group, to develop a 6.7-acre land parcel located at Bhandup area of Mumbai.

Meanwhile, the broader markets continue to outperform the benchmark indices. The BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices ended up over 0.4% each.

Market breadth was marginally up with 1,279 gainers and 1,089 losers on the BSE.