Mkt ends flat: Nifty slips below 5,000 mark

Mumbai: It was a choppy day of trade for the markets, it was calm for major part of the day but volatility creeped in the final hour of trade. It finally ended flat on the F&O expiry day. Nifty slipped below the 5,000 mark.

Buying support was seen from select IT and FMCG stocks. Technology, realty, capital goods, telecom and banks stocks ended flat. Metals, Power, and oil stocks closed weak. Broader markets slipped and closed in red. The breadth was sticky in favour of declines.

On the global front, Asian markets ended mixed and European markets were trading weak.

In the April series Nifty was up 3.6%; broader markets showed good performance in April series after extremely weak sessions of January and February and a flat session of March.

Sensex closed up 23.04 points or 0.14% at 16721.08, and the Nifty down 22.95 points or 0.46% at 4999.85.

About 1329 shares have advanced, 1542 shares declined, and 207 shares are unchanged.

The BSE Midcap Index ended at 7,004.40 down 1%.

The BSE Smallcap Index ended at 8,741.01 down 1%.

The BSE Bankex ended at 8,582.05 up 0.4%. Bank of India, Andhra Bank, Kotak Mahindra, Oriental Bank, Allahabad Bank moved upwards.

The BSE Capital Goods Index closed up 0.4% at 13,820.43. BHEL, L&T, Astra Microwave, BEML, Crompton Greave, Thermax, Greaves Cotton, Areva T&D closed higher.

The BSE Auto Index closed flat at 4,570.99. Escorts, TVS Motor, Amtek Auto, Cummins, Punj Tractors, MRF closed lower.

The BSE Metal Index closed at 15,364.43 down 1%. Hind Zinc, Sterlite, NALCO, Shree Precoated, Mah Seamless, Jindal Steel, Jindal Saw, JindalStainless closed lower.

The BSE FMCG Index closed up 0.8% at 2,389.88. Colgate, ITC, Bata India, Godrej Consumer, HUL, GlaxoSmith Con closed higher.

BSE Oil and Gas Index closed flat at 11,375.36. GAIL, Reliance Natura, HPCL, RPL,ONGC, Reliance, ONGC ended in red.

BSE power index closed at 3,280.02 down 0.6%. Torrent Power, NTPC, Reliance Energy, Tata Power, Power Grid Corp, Crompton Greave ended in red.

The BSE IT Index was up 1.7% at 4,049.52. Wipro, I-Flex Solution, Patni Computer, Financial Tech, Mphasis, Tech Mahindra, TCS, Infosys closed higher.

The NSE cash turnover was at Rs 15504.72 crore and the NSE F&O turnover was at Rs 50958.06 crore. The BSE cash turnover was Rs 5433.59 crore. Total market wide turnover was at Rs 71896.37 crore.