Sensex closes flat; bank stocks gain

Mumbai, Jan 21 :

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets Tuesday closed flat — up 46 points or 0.22 percent.

Interest sensitive stocks like banks and automobile gained amidst hopes that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will maintain key lending rates in its upcoming policy review Jan 28.

The 30-scrip S&P Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 21,237.96 points, closed at 21,251.12 points, up 46.07 points or 0.22 percent from its previous day’s close at 21,205.05 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 21,302.52 points and a low of 21,189.20 intra-day.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed trade 9.85 points or 0.16 percent up at 6,313.80 points.

In Tuesday’s trade, the S&P BSE IT index was down 66.18 points followed by oil and gas index lost 46.24 points and technology, entertainment and media (TECk) index was 33.41 points down.

However, the S&P bank index was up 194.77 points, while automobile index gained 125.28 points and metal index was up by 74.18 points.

The major gainers were: ICICI Bank, up 3.32 percent at Rs.1,078.80; Tata Motors, up 2.68 percent at Rs.384.65; Tata Steel, up 2.39 percent at Rs.383.70; Axis Bank, up 2.37 percent at Rs.1,189.10; and Sesa Sterlite, up 1.56 percent at Rs.208.70.

The main losers were: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), down 2.46 percent at Rs.2,280.65; Coal India, down 2.45 percent at Rs.263.10; BHEL, down 1.90 percent at Rs.170.15; Gail India, down 1.59 percent at Rs.343.90; and Sun Pharma, down 1.43 percent at Rs.580.90.

Among the Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.99 percent up, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.45 percent. China’s Shanghai Composite Index was marginally higher by 0.86 percent.

In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 was trading 0.12 percent up. However, Germany’s DAX Index was higher by 0.35 percent and the French CAC 40 Index edged up by 0.28 percent.