Sensex closes flat after touching new high (Roundup)

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets closed Tuesday's trade flat after touching a record high of 22,040.72 points.

The Sensex had soared 144.47 points or 0.66 percent in pre-noon trade to a record intra-day high of 22,040.72 points. This record high surpassed the previous mark of 22,023.98 hit on March 10.

The 30-scrip S&P Sensex (sensitive index) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) which opened at 21,849.65 points, closed 21,832.61 points -- up 22.81 points or 0.10 percent from its previous close of 21,809.80 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 22,040.72 points and a low of 21,785.38 points during intra-day trade.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also closed flat after hitting a record high of 6,574.95. It closed 12.45 points or 0.19 percent up at 6,516.65 points.

Healthy buying support was observed in fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), oil and gas, bank, consumer durables and metal stocks.

However, information technology (IT), capital goods, technology, entertainment and media (TECk), automobile and realty scrip plummeted.

According to market analysts, sustained FII (Foreign Institutional Investor) flows, and improving macroeconomic data led the markets to the new record high.

Sector-wise, the S&P BSE FMCG index went was up 123.01 points, oil and gas index gained 79.96 points, bank index rose 74.66 points, consumer durables index was up 54.46 points and metal index climbed 53.28 points.

However, the S&P BSE IT index was down 72.95 points, capital goods index was lower by 40.70 points, TECk index fell 23.21 points, automobile index declined by 22.19 points and realty index was down 7.15 points.

The major Sensex gainers were: Maruti Suzuki, up 7.58 percent at Rs.1,868.85; State Bank of India (SBI), up 2.72 percent at Rs.1,698.40; ITC, up 2.56 percent at Rs.355.90; Coal India, up 2.48 percent at Rs.270.40; and Reliance Industries, up 1.04 percent at Rs.895.35.

The losers were: Tata Motors, down 3.03 percent at Rs.381.40; Mahindra and Mahindra, down 1.51 percent at Rs.1,010.25; Wipro, down 1.23 percent at Rs.540.30; Infosys, down 1.19 percent at Rs.3,349.25; and Larsen and Toubro (L&T), down 1.17 percent at Rs.1,240.80.