Volatile markets end flat

Markets saw a soft start this morning on cues from global peers. The Sensex dropped 120 points to a low of 17,629 on opening. However, it recovered some of its losses and managed to rebound in late-noon trades as IT heavyweight, Infosys, pared early losses.

The Sensex touched a high of 17,782 but dropped once again. The index finally ended flat at 17,756 - up six points.

The Nifty ended at 5,323 - down seven points.

US markets dropped on Tuesday as a weak housing data dampened investor sentiments. The Dow slipped 1.4% while the Nasdaq dropped 1% in trades. Asian markets, however, recovered some of its losses towards the end of the day. The Hang Seng ended flat at 20,856 while the Nikkei slumped 1.8% to 9,923.

The mid-cap and small-cap indices outperformed the broader index. Indices jumped 0.8% each to 7,123 and 9,022, respectively.

Among the sectoral indices, the BSE realty index reversed negative trends and jumped 1.4% towards the end of the day. Healthcare, IT and auto indices added around 1% each. Hoever, the capital goods index dropped 1.3% to 14,498.

Larsen & Toubro dropped 3% to Rs 1,765 for the second day running after touching a new 52-week high on Monday. NTPC was down 1.4% at rs 196.

Jindal Steel dropped 1.5% to Rs 661. Sterlite shed 1.4% at Rs 176.

Tata Motors and Wipro slipped nearly 1% each.

Market heavyweight, Realince, dropped marginally to Rs 1,058.

Meanwhile, Maruti Suzuki gained nearly 3% at Rs 1,407. Hindustan Unilever added 1.6% to Rs 266.

DLF, Infosys, ACC and Reliance Infrastructure advanced 1% each. ICICI Bank, Hero Honda and TCS were other big gainers.

VALUE TOPPERS...

Tata Steel topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 107.43 cr, followed by Sesa Goa (Rs 75.65 cr), Larsen & Toubro (Rs 68.38 cr) and Tata Motors (Rs 66.71 cr).