 "Markets end flat in special trading session")
The 30-share Sensex ended up 40 points at 20,122 and the 50-share Nifty ended up 13 points at 6,107.
The Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange on Saturday conducted a two-hour special live trading session in the cash, derivative and securities lending and borrowing segments from 11am to 12:45 pm.
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Wall Street seems to defy the old saying "Sell in May and go away" with both the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 topping new 15,000 and 1,600 levels in early May, respectively. Further, the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite has inched up to its highest closing in over 12 1/2 years. On Friday, the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite ended marginally higher.
In Asia, Japanese shares climbed to a 5-1/2 year high on Friday as the U.S. dollar broke through the elusive 100-yen mark and extended its gains, with exporters and financials leading the charge on prospects of enhanced corporate earnings. The Nikkei surged 2.9% to 14,607.54, the highest closing level since early January 2008. Hang Seng, Shanghai Composite and Straits Times ended up 0.3-0.6% each.
Pharma shares gained after better-than-expected earnings. Lupin recently announced 3-fold increase in net profit for the March quarter.
In the Sensex pack, Dr Reddy's Labs was the top gainer up 3.4% to end at Rs 2,091 while Sun Pharma and Cipla gained 1.4-2% each.
Other Sensex gainers include, Coal India and Stertile Ind up 1.3% each while FMCG major ITC extended gains today and ended up 0.5% at Rs 355 and ONGC ended up 0.7% at Rs 328.
On the losing side, software shares witnessed profit booking after recent gains post encouraging earnings from Cognizant. Infosys, Wipro and TCS ended down 0.3-0.4% each.
HDFC Group shares which rose post healthy fourth quarter earnings from India's largest mortgage lender HDFC also witnessed profit booking today. HDFC and HDFC Bank also ended with marginal losses. NTPC and BHEL were among the other Sensex losers.
Among other shares, Essar Oil ended 3.4% up at Rs 86 after reporting a net profit of Rs 200 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2013 (Q4) due to steep hike in gross refining margins. India's second largest private refiner had a loss of Rs 608 crore in the same quarter last year. The company’s gross revenues too increased 34% to Rs 25,757 crore from Rs 19,160 crore in the same quarter last year.
Sobha Developers ended 2.6% lower at Rs 398 on reporting 28% year-on-year (yoy) drop in net profit at Rs 69.50 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2013 (Q4) due to higher material cost. The real estate developer had profit of Rs 97.50 crore in a year ago quarter. EBDITA or operating margin has declined to 27.71% from 36.62% during the recently concluded quarter.
MMTC surged 8% to end at Rs 264 on back of heavy volumes. The state-run commodity trading and distribution company expects its gold jewellery and silver sales to double during a five-day exhibition organised to mark the Akshaya Tritiya festival. Over 1.38 million shares were traded.
Elder Pharmaceuticals ended locked in lower circuit of 20% at Rs 250, also its 52-week low, after the private sector Ratnakar Bank on Friday offloaded over one lakh shares of domestic pharma player via open market transaction.
In the broader markets, BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices ended up 0.3% each.
Market breadth was positive with 1,029 gainers and 643 losers on the BSE.