Sensex ends flat; metal stocks fall (Roundup)

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets Wednesday closed flat -- only 6.58 points or 0.03 percent up -- on the back of profit booking as foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turned sellers and caution prevailed ahead of May derivatives expiry.

Heavy selling pressure was observed in metal, automobile, oil and gas and consumer durables.

However, healthy buying took place in information technology (IT), bank, technology, entertainment and media (TECK) and capital goods.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 24,591.61 points, ended the day's trade at 24,556.09 points (provisional), up 6.58 points or 0.03 percent from the previous day's close at 24,549.51 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 24,643.33 points and a low of 24,488.81 points in trade.

The S&P BSE metal index plunged by 203.41 points, automobile index went down by 109.48 points, oil and gas index fell by 98.31 points, and consumer durables index slipped by 79.60 points.

However, IT index was up 130.65 points, bank index was 97.27 points higher, TECK gained 69.23 points and capital goods rose 66.40 points.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) too closed flat. It ended trade 11.65 points or 0.16 percent up at 7,329.65 points.

The prominent Sensex gainers included Tata Power, up 3.70 percent at Rs.102.30; HDFC Bank, up 2.30 percent at Rs.823.40; Hero MotoCorp, up 2.08 percent at Rs.2,350.30; Bharti Airtel, up 1.80 percent at Rs.341.75; and DrReddys Lab, up 1.53 percent at Rs.2,346.65.

Of the 30 Sensex scrips, 14 closed in the red. Among the major Sensex losers were Coal India, down 3.23 percent at Rs.380.35; ONGC, down 2.73 percent at Rs.384.85; Mahindra and Mahindra, down 2.70 percent at Rs.1,162.35; Gail India, down 1.95 percent at Rs.371.65; and NTPC, down 1.88 percent at Rs.151.45.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 0.24 percent up, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down by 0.59 percent. China's Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.77 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was trading 0.09 percent up and the French CAC 40 Index was higher by 0.01 percent. Germany's DAX Index had gained 0.05 percent at the closing bell here.