Mumbai, March 12 (IANS): A benchmark index of Indian equities markets closed Wednesday's trade flat, ahead of inflation and industrial output data.
Market sentiments were bearish as automobile, capital goods and oil and gas stocks declined ahead of the inflation and industrial output data that would be out in the evening.
The data will decide the course of the Reserve Bank of India's policy review April 1.
The 30-scrip S&P Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 21,793.32 points, closed at 21,856.22 points, up 29.80 points or 0.14 percent from its previous day's close at 21,826.42 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 21,965.95 points and a low of 21,768.14 points intra-day.
The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed trade at five points or 0.08 percent down at 6,516.90 points.
Heavy selling pressure was observed in automobile, capital goods, oil and gas, bank and metal index, while buying support was seen in healthcare, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), consumer durables and information technology (IT) indices.
The S&P BSE automobile index was down 83.36 points, followed by capital goods index, which was lower by 83.31 points, oil and gas index was lower by 66.26 points, bank index plummetd by 32.12 points and metal index, down 18.39 points.
However, the healthcare index was up 123.98 points, FMCG index rose 79.88 points, consumer durables index was up 52.35 points, IT index was up 52.31 points, and technology, entertainment and media (TECk) index was up 24.61 points.
The major Sensex gainers were: Sun Pharma, up 4.08 percent at Rs.604; Hero MotoCorp, up 2.24 percent at Rs.2,063.15; ITC, up 2.08 percent at Rs.340.70; Coal India, up 1.64 percent at Rs.259.75; and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), up 1.33 percent at Rs.2,178.75.
The losers were: BHEL, down 2.70 percent at Rs.183.75; Tata Motors, down 2.35 percent at Rs.388.75; Hindalco Inds, down 2.34 percent at Rs.114.65; State Bank of India (SBI), down 1.81 percent at Rs.1,644.75; and ONGC, down 1.72 percent at Rs.316.95.