Mumbai, March 21 (IANS): A benchmark index of Indian equities markets Friday closed flat - up 14 points or 0.06 percent - as oil and gas, healthcare stocks fell.

The 30-scrip S&P Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 21,823.52 points, closed at 21,740.09 points (provisionally) -- up 13.66 points or 0.06 percent from its previous day's close at 21,740.09 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 21,870.11 points and a low of 21,729.90 points intra-day.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed trade 10.10 points (provisionally) or 0.16 percent up at 6,493.20 points.

Heavy selling pressure was observed in oil and gas, healthcare stocks while healthy buying took place in metal, bank and automobile scrips.

In Friday's trade, the S&P BSE oil and gas index was down 176.55 points followed by healthcare index which lost 25.18 points.

However, S&P BSE metal index was up by 168.22 points, bank index gained 92.43 points and automobile index increased by 73.88 points.

The major Sensex gainers were: Tata Steel, up 3.57 percent at Rs.362.50; Hindalco Inds, up 3.10 percent at Rs.123.05; Wipro, up 3.09 percent at Rs.567.95; Axis Bank, up 2.69 percent at Rs.1,393.40; and Tata Motors, up 2.38 percent at Rs.389.15.

The losers were: ONGC, down 2.68 percent at Rs.307; Reliance Industries, down 2.20 percent at Rs.885.75; Hero MotoCorp, down 1.94 percent at Rs.2,066.90; Sun Pharma, down 1.68 percent at Rs.580.40; and NTPC, down 1.51 percent at Rs.114.05.