Nifty closes flat as sell off in energy, banking stocks trim gains

The broader NSE Nifty ended flat after hitting a record high in a volatile trade as profit booking in energy and banking stocks balanced out gains in metal, auto and IT counters.

PSU bank, energy, realty, pharma and infra stocks succumbed to profit booking after a recent rally.

The Nifty 50 index rose by 2.35 points, or 0.02 per cent, to end at 11,389.45, its record closing high. The index had risen 41.85 points to touch its all-time trading high of 11,428.95 in early trade. It witnessed an intra-day movement of about 69.25 points.

Major index gainers were Tata Steel, Titan, Grasim, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance, Eicher Motor, Hindalco and Zeel.

Index lossers included Adani Ports, Coal India, Hindustan Petroleum, BPCL, Cipla, SBIN, UPL and Bharti Airtel.

Sector-wise, PSU bank dipped by 2.14 per cent, energy 0.65 per cent, realty 0.61 per cent, infra 0.50 per cent, pharma 0.40 per cent, FMCG 0.26 per cent and bank 0.08 per cent.

While, media rose 1.29 per cent followed by metal 1.16 per cent, auto 0.30 per cent, IT 0.06 per cent, financial service 0.03 per cent and private bank 0.02 per cent.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market turned losers. On the NSE, 792 shares advanced and 1,021 declined, while 83 remained unchanged.

Total securities that hit their price bands were 241.

Turnover in the cash segment eased to Rs 32,458.52 crore from Rs 32,611.57 crore as on Monday.

A total of 16,438.35 lakh shares changed hands in 1,13,24,083 trades. The market capitalisation of listed firms on the NSE stood at Rs 1,52,76,755.06 crore.

The sectoral indices witnessed a mixed trend despite both Asian and European markets trading higher. Investors focused on global developments over the US-China trade war.

Oil prices rose with the revived US sanctions against major crude exporter Iran expected to tighten global supply.

FIIs bought shares worth a net of Rs 314.83 crore today, while DIIs sold shares worth a net 319 crore, a provisional data showed.