Mumbai June 20 (IANS) Prolonged outflow of foreign funds and selling pressure on banking and FMCG stocks wiped off the morning gains and led the Indian equity markets to close on a flat-to-negative note on Tuesday.
However positive European markets and healthy buying in consumer durables IT and oil and gas stocks limited the downslide.
The wider Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) inched lower by 4.05 points or 0.04 per cent to close at 9 653.50 points.
The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE which opened at 31 392.53 points closed at 31 297.53 points -- down 14.04 points or 0.04 per cent from its previous close at 31 311.57 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 31 392.53 and a low of 31 261.49 points during intra-day trade.
The BSE market breadth was bearish -- with 1 428 declines and 1 229 advances.
In terms of the broader markets the BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices outperformed the Sensex. The S&P BSE mid-cap index was up 0.19 per cent and the small-cap index by 0.19 per cent.
Markets ended flat after the rally seen on Monday. The Nifty reversed trend after hitting its highest intra-day level in 1-1/2 weeks in mid-morning trade Deepak Jasani Head - Retail Research HDFC Securities told IANS.
Major Asian markets have ended on a mixed note. European indices like FTSE 100 CAC 40 and DAX traded higher.
On the currency front the rupee weakened by seven paise to 64.50 to a US dollar from its previous close of 64.43.
In investments provisional data with the exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold stocks worth Rs 312.84 crore while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought scrips worth Rs 477.13 crore.
Tata Motors shares rallied intra-day on buzz of initial public offering of Jaguar Land Rover that was bought by the company in 2008 for $2.4 billion said Dhruv Desai Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls.
Logistic stocks gained intra-day after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said GST roll out will be marked by an event at central hall of Parliament on night of June 30-July 1 he added.
Sector-wise the S&P BSE banking index fell by 42.06 points the FMCG index by 16.62 points and the finance index by 14.15 points.
On the other hand the S&P BSE consumer durables index rose by 154.62 points the IT index by 96.15 points and the oil and gas index by 74.21 points.
Major Sensex gainers on Tuesday were: Tata Motors up 3.28 per cent at Rs 467.15; Tata Motors (DVR) up 1.68 per cent at Rs 287.90; ONGC up 1.60 per cent at Rs 168.70; Infosys up 1.54 per cent at Rs 943.80; and Cipla up 1.18 per cent at Rs 545.50.
Major Sensex losers were: Power Grid down 2 per cent at Rs 208.15; Lupin down 1.63 per cent at Rs 1 112.35; Axis Bank down 1.56 per cent at Rs 511.80; HDFC down 1.22 at Rs 1 633.45; and Hero MotoCorp down 1.02 per cent at Rs 3 786.85.
--IANS
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Equities trim gains, foreign funds outflow subdues sentiments (Roundup)
