Key indices end flat on late profit booking

Mumbai: Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ended flat on Tuesday, paring their intra-day gains, as investors resorted to profit-taking after the recent upsurge amid weak trends in global equities. Traders were also awaiting the US inflation data which is expected to remain at March level prompting the Federal Reserve to prolong monetary tightening.

Even after trading with gains for most part of the day, the 30-share BSE Sensex failed to hold on to the momentum and skidded 2.92 points to settle at 61,761.33 due to fag-end volatility. During the day, it hit a high of 62,027.51 and a low of 61,654.94. The NSE Nifty ended marginally up by 1.55 points or 0.01 per cent at 18,265.95.

“The domestic market relinquished its gains as weak global sentiments took hold. The upcoming US inflation figures have become the focal point in determining the global market trend. The US inflation rate, which is expected to remain unchanged at its March level of 5.0 per cent, is causing worries that the Fed will remain stricter for long. However, the sustained support from FIIs is guarding the domestic market from a steep correction,” said Vinod Nair, head (research) at Geojit Financial Services.

“Nifty opened positive, but some profit-booking at higher levels led to flat closing for the day at 18,266 levels. Global cues were mixed as investors keenly await US inflation data as this will set the tone for FOMC’s next meeting,” said Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.

“Markets mostly moved in tandem with global equities, which were sluggish to negative. After exhibiting some volatility in the early session, markets ended almost flat as investors resorted to selective profit-taking after the sharp spike in recent sessions,” said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers on Monday as they bought equities worth Rs2,123.76 crore, according to exchange data.