Indian equities, the Sensex and the Nifty, ended the session down by about 0.3 per cent on Thursday amid firm European cues.
Indian markets ended the day flat on Thursday on the back of consolidation by traders. The BSE Sensex was down 59 points (-0.3 per cent) to close at 19,580. The NSE Nifty ended the day down 20 points (-0.3 per cent ) at 5938.
“The NSE Nifty index has been refusing to budge from the 5930-6100 levels since mid January. Benchmark indices may turn volatile in the coming days amid various economic data points to be announced. The IIP numbers will be announced next week. The other data points are WPI, Import-Export numbers for the month and CPI,” says Amar Ambani, Head of Research, IIFL.
On the BSE, stocks of the IT, auto and FMCG sectors were the only ones to witness a gain. The BSE Consumer Durables Index declined the most at 3.3 per cent, followed by the BSE Realty Index at 1.5 per cent and BSE Power at 1.4 per cent.
Among the Sensex stocks, the top five gainers were Mahindra&Mahindra, TCS, Tata Motors, Infosys and Coal India. The top five laggards were Sterlite Industries, NTPC, Cipla, GAIL and Bharti Airtel.