Nifty ends flat on K'taka poll results

NSE benchmark Nifty shed its early strong gains to end almost flat after the BJP fell short of a simple majority in Karnataka elections.

The 50-share Nifty slipped 4.75 points to 10,801.85 on mild bouts of profit-booking after JDS-Congress alliance news trickled in, dragging the broading index lower albeit marginally.

Moreover, disappointing results pulled PSU bank stocks into negative territory.

Overseas, European markets gave mixed reactions, as investors monitored key political and economic risks while oil prices hovered close to multi-year highs.

Most Asian stocks fell as investors remained cautious about key economic and political risks, while supply concerns kept crude oil prices near 3-1/2-year highs.

Back home, the 50-share NSE Nifty closed at 10,801.85, down 4.75 points, or 0.04 per cent. The Nifty hit a high of 10,929.20 and a low of 10,781.40 during the day.

It saw an intra-day movement of about 147.80 points.

On the sectoral front, PSU bank fell by 2.37 per cent, realty 2 per cent, auto 0.77 per cent, media 0.74 per cent, pharma 0.72 per cent, energy 0.33 per cent, FMCG 0.30 per cent, infra 0.29 per cent.

While IT rose by 0.44 per cent, followed by metal 0.26 per cent, private bank 0.12 per cent and financial service 0.08 per cent.

Major index gainers were Tata Steel, PowerGrid, Bajaj Finance, TCS, Asian Paints, Lupin, Eicher Motors and Titan.

Losers included, Tata Motors, Coal India, SBIN, Indiabulls Housing Finance, GAIL, InfraTel, Grasim, ITC and Reliance.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, remained negative. A total of 594 scrips advanced, 1,200 declined, while 71 remained unchanged. Total securities that have hit their price bands were 208.

Turnover in the cash segment rose to Rs 33,295.81 crore, from Rs 27,402.41 crore as on Monday.

A total of 15,428.74 lakh shares changed hands in 1,19,03,814 trades. The market capitalisation of listed firms on the NSE stood at Rs 1,47,45,721.30 crore.