Markets End Flat in Red

The benchmark indices had a lacklustre session of trade. The Sensex languished in the red, trading in a narrow range of around 130 points, except for isolated and fleeting instances of foraying into the green territory. The Sensex finally ended at 19007, lower by 39 points and the Nifty ended at 5696, down 15 points. The midcap index, however, ended at 7192, higher by 16 points and the small cap index ended at 8945, up 39 points. The apparent stillness of the barometer indices, however, belied the hectic stock-specific activity below the surface, largely driven by result announcements by the likes of Wipro, ITC and BHEL, and impending numbers from powerhouses such as RIL and SBI. On the global front, European shares were trading higher in mid-day trades as metals prices which bounced back after steep losses in the previous session on concerns about further monetary tightening in China. The key benchmark indices in France, Germany and UK rose around half a percent each. Asian stocks, however, slipped on worries that rising inflation may invite aggressive policy tightening and hurt growth in the world's engines such as China and India. The key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea fell up 1-2 per cent. Wall Street had fallen for a second day on Thursday night as earnings failed to live up to lofty expectations. The Dow dropped 18 points to 11,806 and Nasdaq Composite Index lost 24 points at 2,701.