Sensex flat ahead of IIP and Infosys numbers

In the day's trade, metal, capital gods and healthcare stocks fell, while bank, oil and gas, and automobile scrips rallied.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 19,728.02 points, closed at 19,663.55 points, down 3.04 points or 0.02 percent from its previous close at 19,666.59 points.

The BSE Sensex touched an intra-day high of 19,783.75 points and a low of 19,596.38 points. The BSE midcap index was down 35.82 points, while the smallcap index was lower by 41.47 points.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was also trading flat -- down 2.85 points or 0.05 percent at 5,968.65.

In the Sensex sectoral indices, metal index closed 69.81 points down, followed by capital goods index, which ended 66.63 points lower, and healthcare index that fell 58.20 points.

In terms of gainers, bank index was up 90.98 points, while the oil and gas index was up 41.72 points and automobile index was up 36.95 points.

The major Sensex gainers were ONGC, up 3.41 percent at Rs.301.90; Tata Motors, up 2.07 percent at Rs.333.40; HDFC Bank, up 1.24 percent at Rs.675.00; State Bank of India (SBI), up 0.70 percent at Rs.2,539.20; and Coal India, up 0.49 percent at Rs.365.60.

Twenty-three of the 30 Sensex scrips closed in red.

Among the main losers were BHEL, down 2.19 percent at Rs.231.80; Hindalco Inds, down 1.52 percent at Rs.130.00; Tata Consultation Services (TCS), down 1.35 percent at Rs.1,258.55; Sterlite Inds, down 1.28 percent at Rs.115.65; and Sun Pharma, down 0.99 percent at Rs.752.50.

Among other Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei index was up 0.70 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended 0.59 percent higher. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.37 percent.

In Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 was up 0.10 percent, while the German DAX was trading 0.22 percent higher. The French CAC 40 was, however, down 0.24 percent.