Sensex closes flat; IT, cap goods slip, pharma, banks gain

The Sensex closed flat with a positive bias and continued its uptrend for the fourth consecutive day. Shares of oil & gas exploration, realty, pharma, cement, FMCG and banking stocks helped the indices to close higher. However, selling in technology, metal, capital goods and select auto stocks put pressure on the markets. Power and telecom stocks were mixed in trade.

The markets started the day on a positive note following good Asian cues; Taiwan Weighted rose 1.4%. Shanghai, Hang Seng, Nikkei, Straits Times and Kospi gained 0.4-0.9%. However, the indices turned volatile after initial half an hour of trade, as traders looked cautious post seeing rally in the last three days. European markets and US index futures were down 0.3-0.5%, at the time of closing of Indian equities.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 17,701.13, up 14.89 points and the Nifty was up 3.90 points, to settle at 5,281.80.

Deven Choksey of KR Choksey Securities is not expecting a sharp cut but he said somewhere around 100 points cut on the Nifty could invite investors once again back into the market. "I expect that we should be seeing the market ranging between 5,350 on the upside for the Nifty and 5150 on the downside. Once it breaks above this level we can see further upside but otherwise we should see consolidation range in this particular band", he has said.

Today's new listing - DB Corp ended at Rs 265.90, a premium of 25.42% over its issue price of Rs 212 on the BSE.

Oil & gas exploration companies were major supportive; Reliance Industries rose 1.80% and ONGC was up 1.10%. Cairn India gained 0.98% while HPCL and BPCL fell 1.5-2.5%. GAIL was down 0.70% and IOC down 0.19%.