Markets end flat; midcap, small cap outperform

11 December 2008

The benchmark indices have shown smart bounceback in the last half an hour of trade but ended almost flat. The rally seen in last two consecutive days got fizzled out a bit in today's trade.

Recovery was led by Reliance Industries, Reliance Petroleum, SBI, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communication, Idea Cellular, Sterlite Industries and ACC. Midcap and small cap stocks remained in positive terrain throughout the session, mainly helped by shipping, infrastructure, financial and sugar stocks. However, technology, realty stocks, and BHEL, ONGC, HDFC and HDFC Bank closed in red.

Markets had started the day on a flat note and traded volatile till the afternoon trade. As the European markets opened weak, indices had also slipped into red. However, in the last half an hour of trade, they have managed to show smart recovery.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 9,645.46, down just 9.44 points or 0.1% from previous close. It swung 304 points between an intraday high of 9,746.01 and low of 9,441.97. The 50-share NSE Nifty was down 0.28% or 8.10 points at 2,920.15.

Midcap and Small cap indices outperformed the benchmark indices. BSE Midcap Index rose 1.86% or 54.84 points to 3,003.08 and Small Cap Index gained 48.14 points or 1.42% at 3,443.59.

Shipping stocks continued the rally for the second straight day. Mercator Lines shot up 27.74%. ABG Shipyard, Bharati Shipyard, GE Shipping, Shipping Corporation and Shreyas Shipping surged 9-15.7%. Essar Shipping, Hariyana Ship and Varun Shipping rose 5-6%.