Sensex closes flat; SBI, L&T up, RIL, ITC decline

Mumbai: The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty closed flat on Friday after a sharply rally the day before on hopes of diesel price hike. Recovery in rupee and strength in European markets helped markets recoup losses in second half of trade.

The BSE benchmark fell 4.48 points, to close at 16,217.82 after a swing of 155 points between intraday high and low. Shares of SBI, L&T, and metal stocks helped the market whereas the fall in ITC, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and HDFC weighed.

The NSE benchmark touched an intraday low of 4,889.35, before managing to close above the 4,900 level. It fell 1 point to 4,920.40.

The May futures and options series will end next week. VK Sharma, head private broking & wealth management of HDFC Securities says, if the currency holds, the Nifty could close definitely above 4,850.

Country's largest lender State Bank of India spiked 1.7 per cent while its rival HDFC Bank gained 0.26 per cent. However, top private sector lender ICICI Bank went down 0.5 per cent.

Engineering and construction major by sales Larsen & Toubro rose 1.5 per cent. Realty major DLF went up nearly 2 per cent.

Among metals and mining stocks, shares of Tata Steel, Sterlite Industries and Coal India moved up 1-2.5 per cent whereas Jindal Steel tanked 2.6 per cent.

Auto stocks were mixed - Tata Motors and Hero Motocorp climbed around 1 per cent while M&M and Maruti Suzuki tumbled 2-2.5 per cent.

State-owned gas transportation services provider GAIL topped the buying list, shooting up 3.4 per cent.

However, cigarette-to-hotel major ITC declined 0.75 per cent after fourth quarter numbers. FMCG company HUL too was down nearly 0.9 per cent.

Reliance Industries, India's most valued stock lost 0.6 per cent and mortgage lender HDFC fell 0.86 per cent on profit booking.

For the week, the Nifty rose 0.5 per cent and Sensex gained 0.3 per cent.

The broader markets outperformed benchmarks, rising 0.5 per cent. Advancing shares outnumbered declining by 1476 to 1248 on the BSE.

In the second line shares, Voltas gained 12 per cent and Shree Ganesh Jewellery shot up 15 per cent after good performance in fourth quarter numbers. However, Gujarat Fluorochemicals and Crompton Greaves declined over 2 per cent amid heavy volumes, after disappointing numbers in January-March quarter.

On the global front, European markets were up 0.5 per cent and even euro rose against the dollar due to better than expected German and French consumer confidence data, but eurozone concerns still persist.