Nifty ends flat; broader indices outperform

The benchmark Nifty ended flat with a positive bias after seeing consolidation throughout the session. The index was positive and held the 5100 mark in the first half of trade on good Asian cues. It, however, erased those early gains and remained volatile for rest of the day. Global cues were also quite supportive today.

Traders looked cautious in the last two days of this week after seeing rally of nearly 750 points on the Sensex since the Budget day. The Sensex closed just below the 17000 mark.

Dipan Mehta, Member of BSE & NSE said, "The market is back on its bullish zone and you would see it trying to test its earlier highs, maybe as early as end of this month or maybe early next month."

Mitesh Thacker of miteshthacker.com also said 5,300 looked very feasible in this expiry. "We probably will retest or even cross 5,300 mark. The indicators remain very healthy, we might take a day or two maybe to get pass this level of 5,150-5,160. But I think overall 5,300 looks very feasible in this expiry." 

Telecom, cement, select power, pharma and banking stocks along with DLF, Jindal Steel, Hero Honda & Infosys supported the markets. However, shares of FMCG, select technology and PSU power companies along with Reliance Industries, BHEL, Tata Motors, SAIL, HDFC, Unitech and Ranbaxy Labs witnessed selling pressure.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 16994.49, up 22.79 points and the Nifty gained just 8.45 points at 5088.70, after hitting intraday high of 17097.71 and 5118.65, respectively. The broader indices outperformed the benchmark indices; the BSE Midcap Index was up 0.6% and Smallcap up 0.8%.