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Sensex ends flat

MUMBAI: The benchmark Sensex on the Bombay Stock Exchange ended almost unchanged on Thursday after recovering over 200-point mid-session losses but the blue-chip IT stocks suffered hefty losses on smart rise of the rupee against the dollar.

Markets failed to keep the momentum of two-day gaining streak, which saw the BSE barometer rising by a handsome 680.26 points, despite inflation declining to seven-month low of eight per cent.

Brokers said funds treaded a cautious path after Reserve Bank of India Governor D. Subbarao’s comments that the next financial year could be a more difficult year.

However, mid-cap and small-cap stocks surged with retail investors showing keen interest in buying.

The 30-share barometer settled the day at 9645.46, lower by 9.44 points from its previous close.

The Sensex had opened the day stronger by nearly 90 points but barely after an hour it went down on profit selling.

On alternate bouts of buying and selling, which were influenced by mixed trend in Asian markets in spite of a rally in the Wall Street, the bellwether index moved between 9746.01 and 9441.97.

The U.S. stocks ended higher overnight on heightened expectations of bailout package for the auto majors by the Federal Government.

Most of Asian benchmark indices, including Japan’s Nikkei 225 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, also closed flat on Thursday while European markets were also trading unchanged in their early trade.

The 50-share Nifty of NSE also ended marginally down by 8.10 points at 2920.15 against its last close.

The rupee on Thursday shot up by 65 paise to end the day at one-month high of 48.33/34 against the U.S. currency on sustained heavy dollar selling amid hopes of increased capital inflows.

The rupee closed at 48.98/49 on Wednesday.

Dealers in foreign exchange said while Indian banks continued their dollar selling, foreign lenders also joined the selling bandwagon, helping the rupee to improve for the second straight day. — PTI

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