Markets Witness Lacklustre Trade to Close on a Flat Note

The benchmark indices had an insipid closing for the second consecutive trading session. The Sensex ended at 17551, down 10 points and the Nifty shut shop at 5278, up two points. There was underperformance on the broader market front though; the midcap index ended at 6527, lower by 56 points and the small cap index ended at 7808, down 65 points. The markets had registered gains of more than 100 points at opening bell in line with the positive sentiment prevailing globally. Wall Street had jumped for the fourth day on Tuesday on growing hopes that Greece would avoid a debt default; the Dow had risen 109 points and Nasdaq had climbed 57 points. Earlier, in a vote after market closing, Prime Minister George Papandreou's cabinet had won a vote of confidence in what marks a first step towards a resolution of Greece's debt crisis. And the Asian markets had a reassuring look about them. But the similarities ended there. In India FMCG companies were under pressure as India, one of the world's largest producers and consumers of crops such as rice, sugar and corn, relies heavily on the June-September monsoons for agricultural output. The market breadth was negative. Out of 2948 stocks traded on the BSE, there were 1008 advancing stocks as against 1836 declines.