Nifty ends flat on profit-booking

Mumbai, Dec 21 (PTI) Benchmark Nifty settled with marginal losses today as investors booked profits in recent outperformers amid bearish global cues.

Auto, private banks and FMCG stocks were under pressure, while infra, realty, metal, IT, media and pharma counters witnessed buying activity.

Overseas, European stocks declined with the passage of a historic tax reform in the US failing to keep the December rally alive.

Asian markets ended mixed. The Bank of Japan (BOJ) kept monetary policy steady despite growing signs of strength in the economy.

The NSE Nifty opened higher at 10,473.95 and drifted to 10,426.90, before ending at 10,440.30, down 3.90 points, or 0.04 per cent.

It saw an intra-day movement of about 47.05 points.

On the sectoral front, auto fell by 0.65 per cent, followed by FMCG 0.23 per cent, private bank 0.22 per cent, bank 0.15 per cent and energy 0.08 per cent.

However, infra rose 1.17 per cent, metal 0.88 per cent, realty 0.76 per cent, IT 0.62 per cent, media 0.52 per cent and pharma 0.13 per cent.

Major index gainers were L&T, HCL Tech, Hindalco, Tata Steel, Hero MotoCo, NTPC, Lupin, Infosys and Ambuja Cement.

Losers included Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Finance, HPCL, Zee, Maruti, Tech Mahindra, Bharti InfraTel and Bharti Airtel.

The market breadth, indicating its overall health, was in favour of gainers. On the NSE, 1,118 stocks advanced, 645 declined and 62 remained unchanged.

Total securities that hit their price bands were 200.

Turnover in the cash segment fell to Rs 32,518.93 crore from Rs 34,329.08 crore as on Wednesday.

A total of 24,183.52 lakh shares changed hands in 11,461,099 trades. The market capitalisation of listed firms on the NSE stood at Rs 1,47,77,937.98 crore. PTI ARR ABM