Indian stock markets ended flat on Thursday as investors remained cautious amid geopolitical uncertainties, fluctuating crude oil prices and weak Asian market trends, while financial stocks dragged the benchmarks lower.
Sensex settled at 77,186.87, up 1.44 points, while Nifty ended 5.75 points or 0.02 per cent lower at 24,072.75.
During the intraday trade, the 30-share index jumped as much as 0.51 per cent or 394 points to 77,579.69 from the previous close, while touching an intraday low of 77,086.42, a decrease of 0.12 per cent or about 100 points.
On the other hand, the Nifty recorded an intraday high of 24,186.50, jumping 0.44 per cent or over 108 points. It touched an intraday low of 24,050, a decrease of 0.11 per cent or 28.5 points.
Consumer-focused and sector-specific stocks outperformed. Nifty Consumer Durables index emerged as the top gainer, rising 1.48 per cent, followed by Nifty Chemicals, which advanced 1.41 per cent, Nifty Media, up 1.18 per cent and Nifty IT, which gained 0.67 per cent. Nifty Auto index also ended 0.46 per cent higher.
However, financial stocks remained under pressure.
Nifty MidSmall Financial Services index declined 1.53 per cent, while Nifty Financial Services Ex-Bank fell 1.17 per cent. Nifty Realty, Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Private Bank indices also closed in the red.
Among the Nifty 50 constituents, Eternal, SBI Life Insurance, Bajaj Finserv, Bharat Electronics (BEL), HDFC Bank, Shriram Finance, Cipla, Grasim Industries, NTPC and Apollo Hospitals Enterprise were top losers with declining up to 3 per cent.
-IANS
