Sensex ends almost flat ahead of expiry of May contract

After fluctuating in and out of positive terrain, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex on Wednesday ended almost flat at 24,556.09-up by a mere 7 points- on alternate bouts of buying and selling ahead of expiry of May contract on Thursday.

Brokers attributed nearly stable market to rolling over positions in the futures and options (F&O) segment from May series to June before expiry of derivatives contract on Thursday.

IT, Tech and Realty counters attracted good buying support while Metal, Consumer durable and Auto stocks recorded losses.

The smart gains were noticed by HDFC Bank, Infosys, TCS, ICICI Bank, L&T, Bharti Airtel, Tata Power, Hero MotoCorp, Wipro, Dr Reddy's Lab and BHEL were mostly washed out by fall in ONGC, Tata Motors, M&M, GDFC, Coal India, ITC, SBI, Sun Pharma, NTPC, Tata Steel, Gail India, Bajaj Auto and Hindalco.

The BSE 30-share barometer resumed slightly better and moved erratically in a range of 24,643.33 and 24,488.81 before finishing at 24,556.09, a net rise of 6.58 points or 0.03 pct.

On Tuesday, it had fallen by 167.37 points or 0.68 pct.

The wide-based 50-issue CNX Nifty of the NSE also edged up by 11.65 points or 0.16 pct to 7,329.65.

Smallcap counters outperformed the sensex on good buying enquiries from retail investors as the S&P BSE Smallcap index closed up by 1.63 pct.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 202.61 crore on Tuesday as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

The market is now looking for the announcement of RBI's Monetary policy next week and also the Union Budget in the month of July by the new government, brokers said.

Excepting Singapore, which closed slightly weak, other Asian markets ended with gains after China reported increase in industrial profits. Key benchmark indices in China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan closed up between 0.24 pct and 0.97 pct.

European stocks were trading flat to positive in their early morning deals. The CAC was up by 0.07 pct, the DAX by 0.05 pct and the FTSE by 0.02 pct.

Mr. Jignesh Chaudhary, Head Of Research, Veracity Broking Services said,"Today local indices traded flat as foreign investors extended their selling, as some of them are booking profit at the higher levels and some of the investors think that the indices are at its highest level and the upside is limited. Also the investors are being cautious ahead of the expiry of May derivative contracts due tomorrow on Thursday."

In all, 16 scrips out of the 30-share Sensex pack closed in the green while others concluded in the red. Major gainers were Tata Power (3.70 pct), HDFC bank (2.30 pct), Hero Moto (2.08 pct), Bharti Airtel (1.80 pct), Dr Reddy's Lab (1.53 pct), BHEL (1.36 pct), Wipro (1.36 pct), Infosys (1.22 pct).

However, Coal India dropped by 3.23 pct, ONGC 2.73 pct, M&M 2.70 pct, Gail India 1.95 pct, NTPC 1.88 pct, Tata Motors 1.74 pct, Tata Steel 1.69 pct, Hindalco Ind 1.60 pct, Sun Pharma 1.41 pct and Bajaj Auto 1.17 pct.

Among the S&P BSE sectoral indices, IT rose by 1.52 pct, Teck 1.42 pct and Realty 1.40 pct while Metal dropped by 1.62 pct, Consumer Durable 0.99 pct, Refinery 0.88 pct and Auto 0.75 pct.

Market breadth turned positive as 1,903 stocks finished higher, 1,055 ended lower and 92 ruled steady. The turnover dropped to Rs 3,954.80 crores from Rs 4,150.47 crs on Tuesday.