Bulls closed flat after wavering trade

Mumbai -- The bulls managed to scrape through a volatile trading session to close flat. Subdued trend across the universal market dampened the sentiments on the local bourses. After rising continuously in last two trading sessions, investors opted to book some profit at higher levels.

A cautious approach by the investors led to wavering market movement. The benchmark Sensex witnessed alternate bouts of buying and selling touching a high of 11213 and a slow of 11051. The markets traded weak amid huge volatility for most part of the day.

However, the momentum picked up towards last 30 minutes of the closing session and the markets recovered to close a tad higher.

HDFC, ICICI Bank, Wipro and Cipla were the major gainers among the 30 Sensex stocks boosting the market to close a tad higher. Consumer Durable, Metal, and Pharma stocks ended with gains.

Buying was also witnessed in the mid-cap counters. SRF and Rolta were the major gainers from the mid-cap space. SRF surged by 15% to Rs. 238 and Rolta rallied by 12% to Rs. 201 on back of huge volumes.

Sugar stocks were down on back of profit booking. Bajaj Hind has lagged behind by 1% to Rs. 386, and Balrampur Chini was down by 1.10% to Rs. 115.

Profit booking was also seen in Oil & Gas stocks. ONGC lost 1.1% to Rs. 1189, RIL was down by 1.5% to Rs. 971, BPCL lost by 0.7% to Rs. 304. However HPCL was slightly up by 0.2% to Rs. 222.

IT stocks ended with gains. Mphasis BFL surged by 4.4% to Rs. 163, HCL Tech gained by 4.1% to Rs. 586, Wipro was up by 1.7% to Rs. 514 and Infosys added 0.3% to Rs. 1705.

Selling was also seen in FMCG stocks. ITC sank by 1% to Rs. 176, Dabur was down by 0.2% to Rs. 137, Britania slipped by 0.2% to Rs. 1178 and Archies lost by 2% to Rs. 151.

Selling pressure dragged the Auto stocks down. Bajaj Auto dragged by 2% to Rs. 2631, Tata Motor was down by 1% to Rs. 784, M&M slipped by 0.5% to Rs. 611 and Maruti dipped by 1% to Rs. 789.