Nifty ends flat, down 13 pts on F&O expiry day

Mumbai, Dec 28 (PTI) Benchmark Nifty eased by 13 points for the second consecutive session as the Nifty failed to hold 10,500-level on the last futures & options contracts expiry day of the year.

In thin volatile trade, PSU bank, pharma, auto and infra stocks saw profit-booking while, metal and realty gained most among sectoral indices.

Investors also looked cautious amid rising crude oil prices, Sebi board meeting and also lingering concerns over government plans of borrowing exceeding the fiscal target.

Overseas, European shares were trading lower with company news and macro events scarce in holiday-thinned trading. Asian markets rose following a rally in oil and copper prices this week.

The NSE Nifty opened higher at 10,498.20 and moved in a range of 10,534.55 and 10,460.45 before closing at 10,477.90 down 12.85 points, or 0.12 per cent, from its previous close.

It saw an intra-day movement of about 74.10 points.

On the sectoral front, PSU bank fell by 1.94 per cent, pharma 0.58 per cent, auto 0.40 per cent, infra 0.37 per cent, energy 0.31 per cent, media 0.29 per cent, finance service 0.17 per cent and IT 0.11 per cent.

However, realty and metal were the smart gainers by 3.05 per cent and 2.08 per cent, respectively.

Major index gainers were Hindalco, UPL, Vedanta, Dr Reddy, Tata Steel, Indiabulls Housing Finance, GAIL and Lupin.

Losers included IOC, SBIN, Hero MotoCo, Axis Bank, Sun Pharma, Eicher Motors, Adani Port and Cipla.

The market breadth, indicating its overall health, was in favour of gainers. On the NSE, 911 stocks advanced, 856 declined 51 remained unchanged.

Total securities that hit their price bands were 197.

Turnover in the cash segment rose to Rs 40,832.14 crore from Rs 32,213.06 crore as on Wednesday.

A total of 29,908.41 lakh shares changed hands in 11,030,055 trades. The market capitalisation of listed firms on the NSE stood at Rs 1,48,69,696.38 crore. PTI ARR MKJ