Mkts ends flat, metal stocks drag

New Delhi: The markets ended flat on the last day of the week after rallying hard for the last two days. The global cues were not very supportive as well. The US ended weak on Thursday and Asian markets were struggling.

Base metal prices are down and copper has hit its three month low which took the metal stocks lower. Among the auto stocks Bajaj Auto slipped further down after its demerger plan. However, selective buying is seen in bank, FMCG and IT stocks. The midcap and smallcap indices also ended flat.

Pharma majors Dr Reddy's and Sun Pharma came out with strong set of numbers for Q4 and FY07. Even Tata Motors came out with inline set of results.

On the macroeconomic front, inflation numbers have come below expectations at 5.44 per cent as compared to market estimates of 5.24 per cent.

Sensex closed up 3.70 points or 0.03 per cent at 14303.41, and the Nifty down 5.05 points or 0.12 per cent at 4214.5.

About 1077 shares have advanced, 1470 shares declined, and 72 shares are unchanged.

But on a weekly basis, Sensex and Nifty closed with handsome gains.

The BSE Midcap Index ended flat at 6,089.95. The BSE Smallcap Index ended at 7,220.30 up 8 points or 0.11 per cent.

The BSE Bankex was up 0.9 per cent at 7,603.97. Federal Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Centurion BoP moved upwards.

The BSE Capital Goods Index was up 0.2 per cent at 10,157.44. BEML, Carborundum, SKF India, Ingersoll Rand, Alfa Laval closed higher.

The BSE Health Care Index was up 0.03 per cent at 3,733.61. Nicholas Pirama, Aventis Pharma, Apollo Hospital, Lupin, Ranbaxy Labs closed higher.

The BSE Auto Index closed at 4,910.46 down 1.9 per cent. Bajaj Auto, Bharat Forge, Sundram, Sundaram-Clayto closed in the red.

The BSE Metal Index closed at 10,242.01 down over 1 per cent. Sterlite Ind, JSW Steel, Hindalco, JindalStainless, Hind Zinc declined.

The BSE FMCG Index gained 0.8 per cent at 1,873.08. Shaw Wallace, United Spirits, Dabur India, ITC closed higher.

BSE Oil and Gas Index closed higher at 6,287.21 up 1.9 per cent. Chennai Petro, GAIL, Reliance ended in green.

The BSE IT Index gained 0.2 per cent at 4,923.11. Moser Baer, HCL Tech, Satyam, TCS closed higher.

The NSE cash turnover was at Rs 9792.05 crore and the NSE F&O turnover was at Rs 29837.42 crore. The BSE cash turnover was Rs 4687.21 crore. Total market wide turnover was at Rs 44316.68 crore.

(With agency inputs)