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Equities close flat in volatile trading

MUMBAI — The market recovered from its lower levels to end flat in the end trade amid volatility. The market breadth was negative. The mid-cap and small-cap indices declined further. Banking, metal and realty stocks ended with losses. IT stocks slipped further on rupee concerns. Reliance Industries extended gains.

After galloping in mid-afternoon trade, propelling the Sensex to its all-time high, the market had slipped in the red during end trade to hit an intra-day low.

After opening on a positive tone, the market had remained range bound. In mid-afternoon trade, the market surfed in the positive and negative zones. Extending gains, it had hit a new intra-day high in mid-morning trade.

The BSE 30-share Sensex ended down 3.78 points, or 0.02 per cent, to 17,773.36. It had opened with a gap of 54.54 points at 17,779.22 . The Sensex touched an all-time high of 17979.18 in midafernoon trade and a low of 17,708.80 in end trade.

Banking stocks declined as WPI was more than expected. SBI (down 2.31 per cent to Rs1,863.25), ICICI Bank (down 2.31 per cent to Rs1,036.80) and HDFC Bank (down 1.59 per cent to Rs1,400.45) edged lower.

Reliance Communications (up 1.62 per cent to Rs644.75) and Bharti Airtel (up 3.32 per cent to Rs993.05) were among the major gainers in the Sensex pack.

NTPC (down 5.28 per cent to Rs214.45 and the top loser from the Sensex pack), Hindalco Industries (down 3.7 per cent to Rs169.20), Tata Steel (down 3.68 per cent to Rs832.90) and ITC (down 3.27 per cent to Rs178.75) and ACC (down 3.11 per cent to Rs1,176.60) were the major losers from the Sensex pack.

IT bigwigs declined as the rupee gained further. Infosys (down 0.27 per cent to Rs1,989.65), TCS (down 0.78 per cent to Rs1,070.20), Wipro (down 0.03 per cent to Rs461.15) and Satyam Computer Services (down 1.33 per cent to Rs444.45) were weak.

The largest private sector company and oil refiner Reliance Industries rose 2.53 per cent to Rs2,483.90. It touched an all-time high of Rs2,539 yesterday on reports it may join state-run firms to set up a Rs6000-crore petrochemicals complex in Visakapatnam.

Power transmission firm Power Grid Corporation of India ended at Rs100.65 on BSE on its debut, a premium of 93.56 per cent over the IPO price of Rs52.