Stock Market: Sensex And Nifty End Flat Tracking Volatility. L&T Drags 5 Per Cent

Stock update: On the 30-share Sensex platform, L&T tumbled over 5 per cent. ITC, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Industries, Infosys, Tata Steel, TechM, and TCS were the other laggards

The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Thursday pared early gains to close marginally lower in highly volatile trade because of losses in Larsen & Toubro and cautious trading ahead of the release of domestic inflation data.

The BSE Sensex dipped marginally by 36 points to close at 61,905 after hitting the crucial 62,000 mark in opening deals. On the other hand, NSE Nifty, dropped 18 points to settle at 18,297.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, Larsen & Toubro tumbled over 5 per cent after the firm said its Non-Executive Chairman A M Naik has decided to step down from the post. ITC, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Industries, Infosys, Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra, and Tata Consultancy Services were the other laggards. On the upside, Asian Paints rose the most by 3.22 per cent after it posted a 43.97 per cent growth in consolidated net profit to Rs 1,258.41 crore for the fourth quarter. HUL, NTPC, IndusInd Bank, UltraTech Cement, and Maruti were the gainers.

In the broader markets, the BSE SmallCap index outperformed the frontline indices with 0.68 per cent rise, while the BSE MidCap index added 0.35 per cent. 

Sectorally, the Nifty Pharma index was the biggest dragger, down 1.3 per cent. On the upside, the Nifty Bank index was up 0.4 per cent.

Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services, said, "The gains in the domestic market were tempered by weak earnings reported by a few heavyweight companies. On the global front, markets remained positive as US inflation eased below 5 per cent, providing reassurance to investors that the Fed's rate hike measures have been effective in managing inflation levels"

In Asia, Seoul, Shanghai, and Hong Kong markets ended lower while Tokyo settled in the green. Markets in Europe were trading in the green. The US market ended mostly in negative territory on Wednesday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers on Wednesday as they bought equities worth Rs 1,833.13 crore, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 0.93 per cent to $77.12 per barrel.

In the previous session on Wednesday, the BSE benchmark had climbed 178 points to settle at 61,940.20 points, while yhe Nifty gained 49.15 points to end at 18,315.