Nifty ends flat; telecom, cap goods, RIL dip, banks, IT up

The Nifty ended the session on a flat note and below the 5,000 mark. The markets had opened higher due to positive global cues and buying was seen in banking, technology, FMCG select power and metal stocks. But the sell-off in heavyweight Reliance Industries on Hardy's announcement, telecom and capital goods stocks pushed the market near to its previous closing value.

Big boy Reliance Industries (RIL) plunged 4%, which wiped out most of the markets' early gains, post Hardy Oil abandoned one of the well in KG-basin D9. Hardy Oil has 10% stake and RIL has 90% stake in KG D9 block. RIL sources said Hardy continued to have 10% interest in KG D9 and work continued at KG D9.

While commenting on the subject, Hardy Oil's Chief Executive, Sastry Karra and Finance Director, Dinesh Dattani said they would be revising resource potential post this news. "We will remain partners with RIL for D9 and will continue to hold 10% stake, committed to RIL." The stock was down 36% in London Stock Exchange.

However, global cues remained positive throughout the session. European markets were trading 1% higher while US index futures were flat in trade, at the time of writing this report. Asian markets ended higher; Shanghai and Hang Seng gained 1.7-1.9%. Jakarta and Straits Times were up 1.2-1.4%. Kospi and Taiwan Weighted rose over 0.5%. Nikkei was up just 0.15%.

ITC's better-than-expected numbers helped the markets. The stock gained 5%, as its Q2FY10 net profit shot up 25.8% to Rs 1,009.9 crore and net sales went up 14.06% to Rs 4,292.6 crore while expectations were Rs 930 crore and Rs 4190 crore, respectively. Its cigarette business was strong while hotels business saw a dip in second quarter.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 16,810.81, up just 21.07 points, after seeing a day's range of 16,765.20-17,006.77. The 50-share NSE Nifty was up 8.45 points, to settle at 4,997.05, after touching an intraday high of 5,054.95 and low of 4,983.25.