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After a robust opening, benchmark indices ended flat amid rangebound trades weighed down by FMCG and Auto shares. However, buying in technology stocks capped the downslide.
Provisionally, the Sensex ended higher by 33 points at 27,242 mark and the Nifty gained 25 points to close at 8,119.
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(updated at 2.25 PM)Benchmark shares indices continued to trade flat with negative bias amid profit taking in auto and fast moving consumer goods shares.
At 2:25PM, the 30-share Sensex was down 23 points at 27,186 and the 50-share Nifty was up 9 points at 8,183.
The Indian rupee continued to trade weak on the back of month-end dollar demand. The rupee was trading lower at Rs 63.66 compared to the previous close of Rs 63.52 to the US dollar.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors sold Indian equities worth Rs 2,808.27 crore on Wednesday, as per provisional stock exchange data. The markets were closed on Thursday on account of Christmas Day holiday.
BSE FMCG index was the top loser down 1% followed by Auto, Capital Goods, Oil and Gas indices among others. BSE IT and Realty indices were among the gainers.
FMCG shares witnessed profit taking with ITC and Hindustan Unilever down 0.9-1.4% each.
Auto shares were also trading with marginal losses. Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, M&M, Hero Moto Corp and Bajaj Auto down 0.5-1.1% down.
Capital goods shares were trading mixed. BHEL was down 1% while L&T was up 0.5%.
Reliance Industries was down 0.4%. Media reports suggest that the company has signed a deal with Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) for transporting liquefied ethane from North America starting 2017. ONGC was down 0.4%.
IT exporters were among the top gainers on the back of upbeat economic data from the US. Infosys and TCS were up 0.6-0.8% each.
Other Sensex gainers include, HDFC, SBI and Sun Pharma among others.
Among other shares, D B Realty has soared 10% to Rs 59.55 on National Stock Exchange (NSE) on back of heavy volumes after the real estate developer said that it has received full occupation certificate for its project in the western suburb of Mumbai.
In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap index was up 0.3% while the Small-cap index was trading flat with positive bias.
Market breadth was weak with 1,361 losers and 1,246 gainers on the BSE.
