Mumbai, Feb 1 (IANS): A benchmark index for Indian equities markets was trading flat in the late afternoon trade Friday as bank, capital goods and IT stocks plummeted.

The 30-scrip Sensex, which opened at 19,907.21 points, was ruling at 19,832.37 points, down 62.61 points or 0.31 percent around 1.30 p.m. from its previous close at 19,894.98 points.

The Sensex touched an intra-day high of 19,966.69 points and a low of 19,801.95 points. The midcap index was up 6.07 points, while the smallcap index was marginally lower by 1.09 points.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was trading lower by 13.70 points or 0.23 percent at 6,021.05 points.

There was heavy buying in the interest rate sensitive banking, capital goods and IT stocks.

Consumer durables, healthcare and oil and gas stocks rallied.

Major indices like the bank index was down 70.61 points followed by the capital goods index, which was lower by 44.42 points. IT was down 34.29 points.

The consumer durables index was up 155.75 points. And so was the healthcare index, which was higher by 67.51 points. The oil and gas index was up 40.80 points.

Among other Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei was up 0.47 percent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was lower by 0.20 percent. China's Shanghai Composite Index was trading up by 1.41 percent.