Sensex closes flat, IT stocks down

A benchmark index of Indian equities Wednesday closed 30 points down, as information technology (IT) and oil and oil and gas stocks fell.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 21,222.19 points, closed at 21,140.48 points, down 30.20 points or 0.14 percent from its previous day close at 21,170.68 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 21,244.35 points and a low of 21,133.82 points during the day.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed trade 2.35 points or 0.04 percent up at 6,301.65 points.

In the day's trade, heavy selling pressure was observed in IT, oil and gas and TECk scrips. The S&P BSE IT index was down 59.45 points, while the oil and gas index decreased by 32.72 points and technology, entertainment and media (TECk) index declined by 10.14 points.

However, healthy buying was observed in healthcare, consumer durables and reality stocks. The healthcare index gained by 52.47 points followed by consumer durables index which closed 52 points up, while reality index gained 41.38 points.

The major Sensex gainers were: Bharti Airtel, up 2.16 percent at Rs.337.60; NTPC, up 0.88 percent at Rs.138; Sun Pharma, up 0.82 percent at Rs.527.40; Coal India, up 0.66 percent at Rs.291.90; and Hero MotoCorp, up 0.54 points at Rs.2,086.05.

The main losers were: Wipro, down 1.13 percent at Rs.552.75; Tata Power, down 1.09 percent at Rs.90.35; Tata Consultancy Service (TCS), down 0.79 percent at Rs.2,153.70; Reliance Industries, down 0.68 percent at Rs.888.70; and BHEL, down 0.62 percent at Rs.175.35.

Asian markets were closed on account of New Year.