Stock market end flat in highly volatile trade amid weak global markets trend

Mumbai: Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty closed flat on Monday in a highly volatile trade amid a weak trend in global markets and continuous foreign fund outflows.

After gyrating 461.6 points during the day, the 30-share BSE Sensex eked out a marginal gain of 14.54 points or 0.02 per cent to settle at 66,023.69. During the day, it hit a high of 66,225.63 and a low of 65,764.03.

The broader Nifty settled marginally up 0.30 points at 19,674.55.

Among the Sensex firms, Bajaj Finance jumped the most by 4.64 per cent. Bajaj Finserv, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Asian Paints, UltraTech Cement, ICICI Bank, NTPC, JSW Steel and Tata Steel were among the major gainers.

Infosys, Mahindra & Mahindra, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services, IndusInd Bank and HCL Technologies were the major laggards.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said, "The day presented a mixed picture in the market, with sectors such as realty, banking, and consumer durables performing well while IT and pharma struggling. Investors were actively repositioning, shifting away from stocks tied to the global economy and focusing on the domestic economy.

Concerns loomed over a potential global economic slowdown due to the prolonged period of high interest rates, Nair added.

Analysts also said that India's entry into JP Morgan's Emerging Markets Government Bond Index is benefiting the financial sector in anticipation of a reduction in funding costs.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended in the negative territory while Tokyo settled in the green. European markets were trading lower. The US markets ended in negative territory on Friday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.39 per cent to USD 93.63 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,326.74 crore on Friday, according to exchange data. FIIs have pulled out over Rs 10,000 crore from Indian equities in the first three weeks of September.

The BSE benchmark had declined 221.09 points or 0.33 per cent to settle at 66,009.15 on Friday. The Nifty fell 68.10 points or 0.34 per cent to end at 19,674.25.