Sensex ends flat; banks, realty cool heels ahead of expiry

Moneycontrol Bureau

Key equity benchmarks ended flat ahead of Thursday's derivatives expiry. Also, investors chose to stay out as the market will remain shut tomorrow on account of Mahavir Jayanti.

But traders maintain their cautious stance primarily due to the F&O expiry and RBI’s monetary policy scheduled on May 3.

Selling pressure was seen in capital goods, realty and banking stocks. Pharma, IT and oil&ags stocks were on buyer's radar.

The Sensex closed at 19179 up 9 points and the Nifty ended at 5836 up 2.5 points.

Asian markets also ended on a weak note. Chinese markets saw 2 percent plus cuts after the April HSBC PMI reading came in below estimates at 50.5, renewing fears of a slowdown.

The Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) projected the economy to grow at 6.4 percent in FY14. He also said FY14 current account deficit (CAD) is expected to narrow down to 4.7 percent (from 5.1 percent in FY13) when the pace of exports pick up.

Bajaj Auto, Hero Motocorp, Sun Pharma, Kotak Mahindra and Jaiprakash Associates were top gainers on the Nifty. Jindal Steel, DLF, Larsen, IDFC and SBI were top losers.

In the broader markets, Indiabulls Real, National Fertilisers, Kirloskar Oil, Birla Corp, Amara Raja Batteries, Kesoram, Garware Poly, Bhansali Engineering, Mastek and Vesuvius India ended with hefty gains.

HDFC Bank continued to maintain its pace of growth. It reported 30 percent year-on-year rise in its fourth quarter (January-March) net profit at about Rs 1,890 crore, aided by robust interest and other income. Net interest income or the difference between interest earned and paid rose forecast beating nearly 21 percent to Rs 4,300 crore during the quarter. The stock ended in red.

Reliance Industries' telecommunications arm ties up with Bharti Airtel to use its submarine cable network to provide data connectivity across Asia Pacific.

Morgan Stanley upgrades Reliance Infrastructure  to "overweight" from "equal weight" and raised its target price to Rs 576 from Rs 489, citing favourable risk reward as price-to-book valuation multiples are at all-time lows.