Market ends flat, investors on the fence

Key stock indices Sensex and Nifty on Monday took a breather as they closed with minuscule gains, with domestic institutional investors lending crucial support.

The GST Council’s decision last week to make things easy for exporters and small and medium businesses came as a positive move.

But market participants chose to play with care as the earnings season for the September quarter kicks off this week, which remains a big unknown, traders said.

The 30-share Sensex rallied to the day’s high of 31,935.63, but slipped before ending up 32.67 points — or 0.10 per cent — at 31,846.89.

Part of the selling was an outcome of a rush to take profit. The gauge had gained 222 points on Friday.

The NSE 50-share after reclaiming the crucial 10,000- mark slipped back to close up 9.05 points, or 0.09 per cent, at 9,988.75. Intra-day, it hit a low of 9,959.45.