Markets ended flat on Thursday as investors turned cautious and booked profits after a six-day rally ahead of the August headline inflation data due tomorrow and US Fed's policy decision later today. On Wednesday the Sensex had closed tad above 18,000, near its seven-month high, for the first time since February 23, 2012.
The 30-share Sensex provisionally ended up 14 points at 18,014 and the 50-share Nifty ended flat at 5,430.50.
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(Updated at 14:25hrs)
Benchmark indices continue to trade in a tight range with the Sensex and the Nifty oscillating between negative and positive zone.
By 14:30, the 30-share Sensex was up 14 points at 18,014 and the 50-share Nifty gained 2 points at 5,322.
On the global front, Asian shares ended mixed on Thursday ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision later in the day, but investors remained cautiously optimistic for further stimulus action to bolster the world's largest economy.
Back home, the rupee depreciated by 20 paise to 55.41 against the dollar in early trade today on fresh demand for the American currency.
On the sectoral front, BSE Oil and Gas, PSU and Capital Goods indices have gained by almost 1% each. However, BSE Healthcare index is down by almost 1%.
In the oil and gas space, index heavyweight Reliance Industries was up 0.5% after the company late Wednesday said it plans to drill one gas well and convert two sick oil wells into gas wells on the MA oilfield in the predominately gas-rich KG-D6 block as part of its attempts to boost gas production.
ONGC was up 1.5% after select public sector undertaking companies (PSU) were in focus ahead of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) meeting today to consider the disinvestment plan.
In the banking space, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank are up 1% each on hopes that cut in key policy rates by the central bank would boost credit growth going forward.
ICICI Bank was up nearly 1% after the largest private sector lender in the country, has slashed interest rates on retail term deposits by 50 basis points. The revised rates are with effect from Tuesday, the private lender said on its website.
L&T was up 0.8% after its construction arm won order worth over Rs 1,000 crore.
Two-wheeler majors Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp were up 1-2% each on value buying at lower levels after recent losses.
Other notable gainers include GAIL, Wipro, Dr Reddy’s and Coal India.
On the losing side, Cipla, JSPL, Bharti Airtel, Sterlite, HDFC and M&M have declined between 1-2%.
The broader indices are trading flat. The market breadth turns negative with 1,460 declining and 1,226 shares advancing.
