After reaching record high, Sensex closes flat (Roundup)

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets ended Thursday's trade flat - 12.99 points or 0.06 percent up, after touching 22,792.49 points, the highest record so far.

The 30-scrip S&P Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) hit the new intra-day record, surpassing the previous high of 22,727.20 points reached April 9.

The S&P BSE Sensex, which opened at 22,729.46 points, closed the day's trade at 22,715.33 points, up 12.99 points or 0.06 percent from the previous day's close of 22,702.34 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 22,729.49 points and a low of 22,644.43 points intra-trade.

Healthy buying was observed in capital goods, oil and gas, and automobile stocks, while healthcare, information technology (IT) and technology, entertainment and media (TECK) sectors came under sustained selling pressure.

The S&P BSE capital goods index gained by 194.94 points, automobile index rose 73.30 points and oil and gas index gained by 71.73 points.

However, healthcare index declined by 155.75 points, IT index was lower by 69.81 points, and TECK index fell 36.03 points.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) too touched a new record high of 6,819.05 points. However, it ended trade flat at 6,796.40 points, up 0.20 points.

The major Sensex gainers were: Tata Power, up 4.12 percent at Rs.87.25; BHEL, up 2.70 percent at Rs.186.55; NTPC, up 2.57 percent at Rs.123.75; Tata Motors, up 2.33 percent at Rs.430.80; and State Bank of India (SBI), up 2.15 percent at Rs.2,026.85.

India-based multinational company Piramal Enterprises' scrip closed the day's trade at the BSE up 3.73 percent or 20.00 points at Rs.556.15, after it decided to sell its 11 percent stake in Vodafone India for Rs.8,900 crore ($1.48 billion) to Prime Metals, which is an indirect subsidiary of Vodafone Group Plc.

Sensex main losers were: Dr Reddy's Lab, down 2.72 percent at Rs.2,549.10; Sun Pharma, down 1.85 percent at Rs.616.20; Hero MotoCorp, down 1.70 points at Rs.2,205.10; Infosys, down 1.43 points at Rs.3,206.60; and ITC, down 1.42 percent at Rs.342.55.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed flat, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended 1.51 percent higher. China's Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.320 points.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was trading 0.29 percent higher at the closing bell here. Germany's DAX Index increased by 0.21 percent, while the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.11 percent.