Sensex, Nifty shed early gains to end flat

Mumbai: Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty on Monday slipped from the day's highs in the closing hours to end flat as profit-booking in mainly IT and metals shares outweighed hectic buying in banking counters. Registering its third loss in a row, the BSE Sensex ended 13.50 points or 0.03 per cent lower at 52,372.69. Intraday, the index swung nearly 500 points as it touched a high of 52,700.51 and a low of 52,208.96. While, the broader NSE Nifty inched 2.80 points or 0.02 per cent higher to close at 15,692.60.

"Benchmark indices erased gains towards the final session of the day as profit-booking in IT, metals and financial services dragged markets. Barring realty, auto and select banks, most key sectoral indices traded in red. However, realty and cement stocks witnessed strong rebound today as ongoing revival in real estate market attracted investors' attention. Notably, midcap and smallcap stocks continued to outperform as improved prospects of earnings recovery augurs well for them, he added," said Binod Modi, head (strategy) at Reliance Securities.

Vinod Nair, head (research) at Geojit Financial Services, said that "domestic indices trimmed early gains tracking cues from its European peers ahead of the release of key inflation data later on Monday. Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo ended with significant gains. Stock exchanges in Europe were trading with losses in mid-session deals. Meanwhile, the rupee appreciated by 6 paise to close at 74.58 against the US dollar. International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 1.47 per cent lower at $74.44 per barrel."

On the Sensex chart, Bharti Airtel was the top loser, slipping around 1 per cent, followed by Tata Steel, HDFC Bank, Infosys, HDFC, Bajaj Auto and PowerGrid. On the other hand, Ultratech Cement, ICICI Bank, SBI, Axis Bank, Kotak Bank and IndusInd Bank were among the gainers. Of the Sensex constituents, 14 ended in the red and 16 in the green.