Mumbai May 19 (IANS) The Indian equity markets on Friday closed on a flat note after a volatile trade session as investors booked profits. However a key index scaled a new high during the intra-day trade as healthy buying in banking and FMCG stocks buoyed sentiments.
The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE touched a new high of 30 712.35 points during the intra-day trade. It had touched a high of 30 692.45 points intra-day on May 17.
A rebound in global cues and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council s fitment of almost all goods as well as services in the tax slabs aided the markets to recover from lower levels.
However outflow of foreign funds and caution ahead of derivatives expiry next week capped gains.
The BSE Sensex closed at 30 464.92 points -- up 30.13 points or 0.10 per cent from its previous close at 30 434.79 points.
On the other hand the wider 51-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed at 9 427.90 points -- down 1.55 points or 0.02 per cent.
Markets ended flat on Friday after an extremely volatile session. Gains caused by firm global indices and reports of the GST Council finalising rates for most goods were mostly offset by profit booking Deepak Jasani Head (Retail Research) HDFC Securities told IANS.
Broad market indices like the BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices fell more thereby underperforming the Sensex. Major Asian markets ended higher barring the Straits and Taiwan indices while European indices like FTSE 100 CAC 40 and DAX traded higher.
In terms of the broader markets the S&P BSE mid-cap index slipped by 0.72 per cent and the small-cap index by 0.88 per cent.
Anand James Chief Market Strategist Geojit Financial Services said: With currencies remaining volatile and with derivatives expiry approaching investors chose to lock in gains on the last working day of the week.
On the currency front the rupee strengthened by 20 paise to 64.64-65 per US dollar from its previous close of 64.84-85.
In investments provisional data with the exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold stocks worth Rs 988.70 crore while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased scrips worth Rs 349.21 crore.
FMCG shares got an uplift from the GST tax rates finalisation with shares of ITC and HUL hitting a fresh all-time high Dhruv Desai Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls told IANS.
IT sector stocks traded down on profit booking while cement and power sector stocks outperformed the bearishness in the market on strong buying support.
Sectorwise the S&P FMCG index rose by 176.12 points the banking index by 100.19 points and the power index by 4.23 points.
On the other hand the S&P consumer durables index fell by 162.20 points the automobile index by 138.51 points and the oil and gas index by 113.79 points.
Major Sensex gainers on Friday were: ITC up 2.82 per cent at Rs 285.90; Hindustan Unilever up 2.04 per cent at Rs 1 007.55; Axis Bank up 1.83 per cent at Rs 500.85; State Bank of India (SBI) up 1.72 per cent at Rs 308.15 and Tata Motors up 1.08 per cent at Rs 442.95.
Major Sensex losers were: Asian Paints down 2.43 per cent at Rs 1 122.20; Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) down 1.35 per cent at Rs 1 333.10; HDFC down 1.16 per cent at Rs 1 521.30; Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) down 1.08 per cent at Rs 2 506.80; and Power Grid down 1.06 per cent at Rs 205.90.
--IANS
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Equity markets close flat; FMCG, banks stocks gain (Roundup)
