Sensex ends flat, auto stocks down (Roundup)

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets ended Tuesday's trade flat as automobile, consumer durables and oil and gas stocks fell.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 20,863.15 points, closed at 20,864.97 points, down 28.92 points or 0.14 percent from the previous day's close at 20,893.89 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 20,948.91 points and a low of 20,810.25 intra-day.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also closed flat. It ended at 6,202.80 points, down 2.15 points or 0.03 percent.

Heavy buying pressure was observed in automobile, consumer durables and oil and gas stocks. However, healthy buying was observed in capital goods, information technology (IT) and public sector undertakings (PSUs) sectors.

The S&P BSE automobile index lost 67.82 points, while consumer durables index was down 51.47 points, and the oil and gas index was lower by 25.28 points.

However, capital goods index was up 96.82 points, followed by IT index, which gained 42.64 points, and PSU index which ended the day 41.45 points up.

The major Sensex gainers were Tata Power, up 2.63 percent or 2.10 points at Rs.82; Sun Pharma, up 2.10 percent or 13.25 points at Rs.643.90; Coal India, up 1.82 percent or 5.25 points at Rs.292.95; Gail India, up 1.77 percent or 5.80 points at Rs.333.30; and Wipro, up 1.67 percent or 8.45 points at Rs.514.90.

The losers in the day's trade were Hindalco Inds, down 1.56 percent or 1.85 points at Rs.116.40; Hero MotoCorp down 1.37 percent or 28.70 points at Rs.2,069.95; HDFC, down 1.29 percent or 10.55 points at Rs.809.90; Mahindra and Mahindra, down 1.23 percent or 10.90 points at Rs.876.70; and Reliance Industries, down 1.07 percent or 9.75 points at Rs.903.60.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 0.13 percent up, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.52 percent, and China's Shanghai Composite Index moved lower by 0.83 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was trading 0.23 percent higher, while Germany's DAX Index was marginally down 0.01 percent. The French CAC 40 Index was higher by 0.06 percent.