Mumbai: Benchmark indices on Monday (December 23) ended flat after witnessing volatility during the session. The Sensex closed was down 38.88 points at 41,642.66, while Nifty ends 5.60 points down at 12,266.20. Major gainers on the Nifty were Zee Entertainment, Vedanta, Dr Reddys Laboratories, Maruti Suzuki and Hero Motocorp, while Yes Bank, Nestle India, Reliance Industries, SBI and Coal India were among major losers.
As many as 1102 shares advanced, 1370 shares declined, while 199 shares remain unchanged. Among sectors, PSU bank, energy, infra and FMCG ended lower, while buying was witnessed in the auto stocks.
During early hours on Monday, equity benchmark indices see-sawed between gains and losses as Asian markets were flat due to weak volumes ahead of the Christmas holiday break. At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 38 points to 41,643 while the Nifty 50 was up by 3 points at 12,277. Most sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the green except for Nifty PSU bank. Nifty metal and media gained by 0.7 per cent each.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries slipped by 2.08 per cent to trade at Rs 1,565.80 per share, and others in negative zone were Coal India, Nestle India, HDFC Bank and Adani Ports. However, UPL was up by 2.7 per cent, Zee Entertainment by 2.5 per cent, Bharat Petroleum Corporation by 1.9 per cent, JSW Steel and Vedanta by 1.6 per cent each.
Meanwhile, world stocks stalled near record highs and currency markets were little changed on Monday as trading dwindled before the Christmas holiday and investors took profit on gains made this month.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.14% by 0851 GMT, after nearing a record high in the previous session. MSCI`s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was near its highest since June 2018, up 0.05%.
The MSCI all-country stock index was flat, just below Friday`s record high. It has risen nearly 3% this month as U.S.-China trade tensions eased and confidence grew that Britain would avoid a chaotic exit from the European Union. The index is up 23% so far in 2019, set for its best year since 2009.
US President Donald Trump said on Saturday the United States and China would "very shortly" sign phase one a trade agreement. It calls for the United States to reduce some tariffs in exchange for China`s buying more American farm products. China said on Monday it would lower tariffs on products ranging from frozen pork and avocado to some types of semiconductors next year.
(With Agency Inputs)
