Sensex ends flat post lacklustre session

Realty, bank, metal shares surge

The Sensex has ended (provisional) at 20,093 - down 10 points. Nifty ended unchanged at 6,075.
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(Updated at 1424 hrs)

Markets were volatile in a narrow range as investors booked profits ahead of the futures and options expiry on Thursday. The Sensex, after touching a high of 20,172 slipped into the negative zone. The index is now flat at 20,113. Nifty is unchanged at 6,076.

Asian stocks edged higher on Monday after a corporate-results-driven rally on Wall Street on Friday and amid a positive earnings outlook for Chinese firms. However, Japanese stocks fell from near three-year highs as investors took profit. Nikkei slipped 1% to 10,824.Shanghai Composite on the other hand surged 2.5% at 2,347. Data released on Sunday showed that profit growth at major Chinese industrial enterprises slowed sharply to 5.3% in 2012, nearly one-fifth of the 25.4% jump seen the previous year.

Foreign institutional investors bought shares worth a net Rs 586.87 crore on Friday as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

Interest rate sensitive realty stocks rose as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is seen cutting its key policy rate viz. the repo rate by 25 basis points (bsp) at Third Quarter Review of Monetary Policy 2012-13 tomorrow. BSE realty index surged 2% to 2,228.

BSE auto, bankex and metal indices went up 0.5-1% each. IT stocks edged higher on renewed buying. BSE IT index went up 0.5% at 6,446.

Hero MotoCorp was up 2.3% at Rs 1,805 - the highest gainer among Sensex stocks. Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra and Maruti Suzuki also advanced 0.7-1.7% each. from the metal space - Sterlite and Hindalco jumped 2.2% each, followed by Tata Steel. Jindal Steel and Power however slipped in trades.

On the losing side, Reliance was the biggest dragger, accounting for a 25 points fall on the Sensex. ONGC slipped 1.6% at Rs 335. Hindustan Unilever, NTPC and Sun Pharma also slipped around 1% each.

BSE market breadth was positive. Out of 2,825 stocks traded, 1,474 shares advanced while 1,240 shared delcined in trades.