Sensex ends flat; IT stocks plummet

A benchmark index of Indian equities market closed Wednesday's trade flat, as information technology (IT), technology, media and entertainment (TECk), fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and consumer durables scrips plunged.

However, there was healthy buying spree in the oil and gas, metal, capital goods, automobile and healthcare stocks.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 19,532.42 points, closed at 19,568.22 points, up 22.44 points or 0.11 percent from its previous day's close at 19,545.78 points.

Sensex touched a high of 19,604.43 points and a low of 19,441.35 points in intra-day trade.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) ended 0.07 percent or 4.40 points down at 5,923.85 points.

The IT index went down by 46.45 points, followed by the FMCG index, down 33.95 points, the consumer durables index, down by 33.71 points and the TECk index, down 21.61 points.

The S&P BSE oil and gas index up 149.86 points, metal index was up at 34.21 points, while the capital goods index surged 29.37 points, automobile index, was up 26.44 points and healthcare index gained 24.52 points.

The prominent Sensex gainers were: Reliance Industries, up 2.56 percent at Rs.800.55; ONGC, up 1.95 percent at Rs.324.55; Sun Pharma, up 1.91 percent at Rs.1,038.30; Hindalco Inds, up 1.34 percent at Rs.102.45; and Maruti Suzuki, up 1.28 percent at Rs.1,568.60.

Local search engine Just Dial Limited gained 14.15 percent on its debut at the NSE and closed at Rs.605 from its previous close Rs.530. It touched an intra-day high of 19.22 percent at Rs.631.90.

Among the main losers were Wipro, down 1.59 percent at Rs.325.60; Infosys, down 1.32 percent at Rs.2,462.10; HDFC, down 1.23 percent at Rs.844.40; ITC, down 0.93 percent at Rs.334.30; and Bharti Airtel, down 0.69 percent at Rs.302.

Among other Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei was 3.83 percent lower, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng went 0.97 percent down. China's Shanghai Composite Index closed the day's trade 0.07 percent lower.

Major European markets like Britain's FTSE 100 was trading 1.36 percent lower, while German DAX was down 0.83 percent. The French CAC 40 was 1.10 percent lower.