Markets End in Red on a Flat Note

The markets closed flat for the second consecutive day with bouts of volatility witnessed throughout the day. The Sensex closed down 16 points at 18,512, down 177 points from the day's high, and the Nifty shed nine points to close at 5,541. In the broader markets, the midcap index closed flat at 6,869 while the small cap index held its gains at 8,364, up 0.2% outperforming the BSE benchmark index, down 0.09%. On the global front the Asian and the European markets were largely trading in the green. At the start of the day, the markets opened flat tracking lacklustre cues in the global markets as commodity prices firmed up renewing concerns of inflation and further rate hike. As the day progressed the Sensex climbed north on the back of strength seen in the FMCG space particularly Hindustan Unilever. From thereon the markets consolidated gains but due to the selling pressure seen in the banking space the markets slipped into the negative in afternoon trades. Among the sectoral indices, FMCG continued its positive run for the second straight day on the back of gains witnessed in United Breweries and Hindustan Unilever. Realty index added another percent to close the day as the second top gainer. On the other hand, banking and consumer durables indices were the laggards for the major part of the day, down 0.6% each. Bank shares dropped through the day on worries about rising interest rates which would hurt future profits.The market breadth was negative. Of the total 2931 stocks traded on the BSE, 1410 stocks declined while 1370 advanced.