Equity indices end flat, banking stocks gain

Equity benchmark indices swung wildly between gains and losses on Friday but ended flat as investors mulled over mixed corporate earnings of the second fiscal quarter.

The BSE S & P Sensex closed 38 points higher at 39,058 while the Nifty 50 was up by 1 point from its previous closing at 11,584. Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed with Nifty PSU bank up by 3.4 per cent. But Nifty auto, FMCG and metal were in the red.

Among stocks, Yes Bank gained by over 11 per cent to close at Rs 53.70 per share. State Bank of India was up by 7.56 per cent after posting over 200 per cent jump in its second fiscal quarter net profit at Rs 3,012 crore. ICICI Bank inched up by 3.2 per cent.

Pharma majors Cipla and Sun Pharma gained by 2.8 per cent and 2.5 per cent respectively. The other prominent winners were IT majors Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and HCL Technologies besides Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Eicher Motors.

However, telecom stocks dropped a day after the Supreme Court rejected the operators' definition of adjusted gross revenue (AGR). The judgement will negatively impact incumbent cash-strapped operators by over Rs 92,000 crore.

Bharti Infratel plunged by 8.6 per cent to Rs 217.20 per share while Vodafone Idea slipped by 5 per cent to Rs 4.11 per share. Tata Motors declined by 5.4 per cent while Titan, JSW Steel and UltraTech Cement lost by over 2.6 per cent.

Meanwhile, Asian shares inched up tracking small gains in world markets as positive earnings offset economic growth concerns. Japan's Nikkei ticked up by 0.22 per cent, South Korea's Kospi by 0.11 per cent and Shanghai Composite index by 0.48 per cent.