Sensex ends flat; IT,auto rally

Sensex,which had dipped by over 120 pts in early trade,bounced back to close up 6.25 pts.

A buying rush at IT and auto counters in the last hours of trading helped the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex recover early losses and end the day flat.

Mirroring a weak trend in Asia,the 30-share index shed 120 points in early trade. However,buying picked up in the closing hours on expectations that the US Federal Reserve will leave the benchmark rate unchanged at near-zero level on Wednesday.

The Sensex finally ended the day up 6.25 points,or 0.04 per cent,at 17,755.94. The wide-based 50-share Nifty Index of the National Stock Exchange,too,ended flat at 5,323.15 points,up 0.12 per cent.

8220;Investors are playing cautiously ahead of settlement in Futures amp; Options segment,which is due tomorrow. Weak global cues also dominated the session today,8221; Geojit BNP Paribas Head of Research Alex Mathews said. Analysts said investors are bullish on auto and IT stocks.

IT bellwether Infosys jumped 1.1 per cent and TCS by 0.89 per cent. However,Wipro ended with a 0.54 per cent loss.

In the frontline auto stocks,Maruti Suzuki rose 2.78 per cent and was the biggest gainer on the Sensex. Hero Honda gained 0.90 per cent.

Most of the sectors presented a mixed picture and stock-specific action was prominent in today8217;s session.

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ICICI Bank climbed 0.99 per cent,HDFC Bank 0.58 per cent and HDFC 0.42 per cent. Bharti Airtel ended 0.76 per cent higher,while realty firm DLF ended 1.35 per cent up.

In the Sensex constituents,20 scrips settled with gains,while 10 ended in the red. Profit-booking in RIL and Lamp;T dragged the market. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries,which is likely to acquire a stake in a shale gas field in the US,lost 0.47 per cent to close at Rs 1,058.60.

Engineering major Lamp;T sank for the second straight trading session and was the biggest loser on the Sensex. The stock ended 3.08 per cent down at Rs 1,765.10.

Other major losers on the Sensex include Jindal Steel,which was down 1.5 per cent,besides NTPC 1.43 per cent down and Sterlite 1.443 per cent down.

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On the global front,China8217;s Shanghai index ended in the red with a loss of 0.73 per cent and Japan8217;s Nikkei was down 1.87 per cent. European markets were also in the red at mid-session. Overnight,Wall Street ended in the negative,with the Dow Jones plunging 1.43 per cent and the Samp;P 500 1.61 per cent.

8220;Domestic markets behave in line with global peers and any negative news there has some impact here also,8221; Networth Stock Broking8217;s Head of Institutional Sales amp; Strategy,Prakash Diwan,said.