Key Indian equity indices end flat (Roundup)

Key Indian equity market indices ended flat on Wednesday as investors booked profit.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 27,085.24 points, closed at 27,020.66 points -- up 10.99 points, or 0.04 percent over the previous day's close at 27,009.67 points.

It touched a high of 27,105.41 points and a low of 26,973.71 points in the day's trade.

Out of the 30 scrips in the Sensex, 15 ended in the green and rest in the red.

The wider Nifty of the National Stock Exchange closed 6.60 points or 0.08 percent up at 8,273.05 po"nts.

"India's main indices were flat today due to cut in GDP forecast by the World Bank to 7.6 per cent from 7.7 per cent. But the undercurrent in broad market continues to be very strong with handsome gain in mid and small caps," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.

"With RBI event out of the picture, Indian markets are looking for further positive cues even as global markets position themselves ahead of Federal Open Market Committee rate decision next week," said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.

The 100-scrip and 200-scrip indices of the BSE were up by 0.16 percent and 0.21 percent, respectively. The mid-cap index was higher by 0.52 percent and small-cap stocks were up by 0.89 percent.

In Wednesday's trade, good buying was observed in power, capital goods and utilities sectors, while selling pressure was seen in IT sector.

Sector-wise, the S&P BSE power index gained by 1.77 percent, capital goods index moved up by 1.76 percent and utilities index went up by 1.33 percent. However, IT index dropped by 0.61 percent.

The major Sensex gainers on Wednesday were: BHEL, up 1.80 per cent at Rs 121.40; L&T, up 1.52 per cent at Rs 1,510.65; ICICI Bank, up 1.48 per cent at Rs 257.60; and Hero MotoCorp, up 1.32 per cent at Rs 3,169.30.

The losers were: Infosys, down 1.50 per cent at Rs 1,238.30; Asian Paints, down 1.23 per cent at Rs 1,019.30; and HDFC Bank, down 1 per cent at Rs 1,162.40.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei was up by 0.93 per cent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index ended lower by 0.32 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended lower by 0.14 per cent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was higher by 0.03 per cent, while Germany's DAX Index was down by 0.48 per cent, and France's CAC 40 was lower by 0.36 per cent at the closing of the Indian markets.

--IANS

ag/vt