Sensex trades flat; consumer durbales sector rises

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets, the 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex), on Friday was trading flat in the pre-afternoon session, even while consumer durables and oil and gas stocks rose.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was also trading flat in the pre-afternoon session. It was down 13.35 points or 0.15 percent at 8,764.95 points.

The Sensex of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 28,889.27 points, was trading at 28,841.33 points (at 11.15 a.m.) in the pre-afternoon trade session, down 43.88 points or 0.15 percent from the previous day's close at 28,885.21 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 28,899.19 points and a low of 28,820.90 points in the intra-day trade so far.

Healthy buying was observed in consumer durables, oil and gas, capital goods, metal and automobile sectors. However, healthcare, banking and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG)stocks came under selling pressure.

The S&P BSE consumer durables index was higher by 99.75 points, followed by oil and gas index which gained 47.70 points, capital goods index rose 36.05 points, metal index moved up by 30.65 points and automobile index gained 28.90 points.

However, healthcare index was down 103.57 points, banking index was lower by 20.53 points and FMCG index slipped by 0.15 points.