Sensex, Nifty settle flat in see-saw trade on FII selling, weak Q2 results

Mumbai: Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty closed flat in highly volatile trade on Monday as continuous FII selling, disappointing quarterly earnings and weak trends from Asian markets dented investor sentiment.

After gyrating between highs and lows, benchmark Sensex eked out gains of 9.83 points or 0.01 per cent to settle at 79,496.15. The barometer gyrated 1,100.8 points between the day's high of 80,102.14 and a low of 79,001.34.

The NSE Nifty dipped marginally by 6.90 points or 0.03 per cent to 24,141.30.

From the 30-share Sensex pack, Asian Paints tumbled over 8 per cent after the company on Saturday reported a 43.71 per cent decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 693.66 crore for the September quarter, impacted by soft-demand conditions, material price inflation and a decline in decorative and coatings business in the domestic market.

Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance, Mahindra & Mahindra, JSW Steel, NTPC, Adani Ports, Bajaj Finserv and Larsen & Toubro were also among the laggards.

However, Power Grid, HCL Technologies, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services and ICICI Bank were among the gainers.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 3,404.04 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

"The actions of FIIs are dominating the current market momentum, which is backed by a weak set of earnings and expectations from Trump policy. The risk of further downgrades in Nifty earnings casts clouds over investor sentiment, while the IT sector continued to outperform due to the strong US dollar and in anticipation of a revamp in US IT spending," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services said.

India is also looking forward to the CPI data with a muted view as food prices are likely to be higher on monthly basis, essentially forging RBI to hold interest rates in the short term, Nair added.

The BSE smallcap gauge declined 1.14 per cent and midcap index dipped 0.79 per cent.

Among sectoral indices, commodities fell by 1.25 per cent, metal by 0.97 per cent, FMCG by 0.90 per cent, oil & gas by 0.79 per cent and auto by 0.67 per cent.

Financial Services, IT, bankex, power and teck were the gainers.

"Key benchmark indices gyrated between positive and negative zones in a highly volatile intra-day session and finally ended on a lacklustre note. However, gains in select banking and IT stocks shielded the markets from yet another fall as the falling rupee and FII fund outflows continue to keep investors on the edge," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said.

In Asian markets, Seoul and Hong Kong settled lower while Tokyo and Shanghai ended higher.

European markets were trading on a firm note. Wall Street ended in positive territory on Friday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.83 per cent to USD 73.26 a barrel.

On Friday, the BSE benchmark gauge declined by 55.47 points or 0.07 per cent to settle at 79,486.32. The Nifty dipped 51.15 points or 0.21 per cent to 24,148.20.