By IANS,
Mumbai : A key Indian equities index closed flat Thursday as IT, telecom and healthcare stocks came under selling pressure.
The 30-scrip benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange, Sensex, which opened at 17,274.07 points, shut shop at 17,195.2 points, down 35.91 points or 0.21 percent from the previous close of 17,231.11 Tuesday.
The S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) too ended in the red at 5,108.85 points, down 0.18 percent.
Broader market indices also closed in the positive terrain, with the BSE midcap index moving up 0.55 percent and the BSE smallcap index closing 0.87 percent higher.
Metals and banking scrips, however, found favour among buyers with power and PSU scrips seeing some gains.
The market breadth was positive with 1,401 stocks advancing, 1,357 declining and 78 remaining unchanged.
Among the top gainers were SBI, up 2.69 percent at Rs.2,330.45; Tata Power, up 1.91 percent at Rs.1,368.85; Sterlite, up 1.84 percent at Rs.868.10; and ICICI Bank, up 1.66 percent at Rs.935.90.
Among the losers were Bharti Airtel, down 4.21 percent at Rs.325.10; Sun Pharma, down 3.5 percent at Rs.1,359.20; Reliance Infra, down 3.4 percent at Rs.1,276.80; and Infosys, down 1.78 percent at Rs.2,215.65.
Most other Asian markets ended with modest gains.
The primary index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Hang Seng, closed 112.60 points or 0.51 percent higher at 21,999.08 points.
The Kospi, benchmark index of the Korean Stock Exchange, shut in the green as well at 1,658.99 points, up 9.9 points or 0.6 percent.
At the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the composite index was ruling 0.31 percent up at 2,979.79 points.
The Nikkei, a key index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, did better than others, closing 178.44 points or 1.77 percent higher at 10,238.65 points.
European markets were ruling in the green.
In Britain, the FTSE 100 index was ruling 0.19 percent lower at 5,246.36 points, while its French peer, the CAC 40, was up 0.34 percent at 3,895.98 points.
Germany’s DAX was ruling at 5,866.09 points, up 0.2 percent.