Markets End Flat in Green

The benchmark indices had a positive closing post Friday's battering and the gyrations witnessed through the course of the past week. The markets had a stable morning session and actually threatened to end the day with runaway gains (Sensex was up nearly 200 points mid-noon) before losing the plot in the face of sudden volatility in the last hour of trade. The Sensex ended above the psychological 18k mark at 18037, higher by 29 points, but the Nifty was unable to sustain the 5400 mark and ended virtually unchanged at 5396. This should still qualify as a decent close, given that the Sensex had plummeted more than 400 points on Friday after oscillating in a 700-pts range through the week. The broader markets did not enjoy a respite in selling pressure though; the midcap index ended at 6699, lower by 34 points and the small cap index shut shop at 8261, down 69 points. And the market breadth was negative; out of 2948 stocks traded on the BSE, there were 1146 advancing stocks as against 1623 declines. On the global front, the US stocks had risen on Friday, reversing losses and sending the Standard and Poor's 500 Index to the highest level since June 2008, after unemployment rates unexpectedly dropped and more companies beat earnings estimates; the Dow rose 29 points at 12,092 and Nasdaq climbed 15 points at 2,769.30. The Asian markets had a mixed day; the Nikkei and Seoul indices gained around half a percent each, while the Hang Seng index shed about a percent. And the European markets were up around a percent each in mid-day trades.