Nifty ends flat; auto, cap goods, realty, metals dip

Equity benchmarks continued its consolidation on Thursday as well and closed the session on a flat note - indices hovered around just their previous closing values. The Nifty remained in a range of 5970-6005 levels, with thin volumes - especially ahead of Christmas Holiday. Sun Pharma was the top gainer with 5% rally while SAIL was biggest loser with loss of 4.66%.

Capital goods, FMCG, auto, realty, cement, metal (major ones) and select power companies' shares along with TCS, ICICI Bank and ONGC witnessed selling pressure and dragged the Sensex tad below the 20,000-mark.

However, buying in select healthcare, banking and technology companies' shares along with Reliance Industries, Sterlite, Sesa Goa, Jindal Steel and Reliance Communications limited downside.

Alok Sama, President and Founder of Baer Capital feels that most emerging markets are overvalued to some extent and said he was cautious about the Indian markets now. Indian markets are mainly driven by FII flows but the market needs more domestic investment to outperform, he feels. ''Indian markets need to see more retail and mutual fund participation,'' he said. Sama expects the global macro news to impact the Indian risk appetite.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 19982, with loss of 33 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 4.4 points to settle at 5,890. The broader indices too closed flat with a negative bias.

L&T and BHEL from capital goods space declined 0.9-1%; Siemens fell 0.6%. In power pack, Power Grid, Tata Power, Reliance Infrastructure and Suzlon Energy lost 0.5-0.7% while NTPC rallied 1.5%.