Sensex trades flat in pre-afternoon session

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets was trading flat - a miniscule 0.08 percent down - in pre-afternoon trade Thursday.

While good buying trend was seen in only auto and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) stocks, trading in consumer durables, bankex, metal and realty was visibly down.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 20,066.94 points, was trading at 20,130.62 points in the pre-afternoon session, down 17.02 points or 0.08 percent from its previous day's close at 20,147.64 points.

Sensex touched a high of 20,156.02 points and a low of 20,066.14 points in intra-day trade.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) has shown downward movement and was trading at 0.53 percent or 32.15 points down at 6,072.15 points.

The S&P BSE auto index was up by 119.60 points, and FMCG also inched up by 41.74. But consumer durables index tanked by 91.36 points, oil and gas index was down by 87.02 points, bankex dropped by 59.71 points, metal index by 44.32 points and realty index by 51.58 points.