Sensex ends flat after hitting life-time high of 28,283

The Sensex ended 15 points lower at 28,163 after hitting life-time high of 28,282.85 and the Nifty ended down 5 points at 8,426 after touching an all-time high of 8,454.50.

B enchmark share indices came off their fresh record highs to end marginally lower weighed down by profit taking in IT majors and mortgage lender HDFC.

The Sensex ended 15 points lower at 28,163 after hitting life-time high of 28,282.85 and the Nifty ended down 5 points at 8,426 after touching an all-time high of 8,454.50.

In the broader market, both BSE midcap and smallcap indices outperformed their larger peers and closed with gains of 0.2-0.9% each.

Market breadth ended positive in BSE with 1,742 advances against 1,368 declines.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors were net buyers in Indian equities worth Rs 656.37crore on Monday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

Global Markets

In Asia, Nikkei, closed up more than 2% rebounding from yesterday’s sharp decline on hopes of a snap election and fresh monetary stimulus measures and delay in a sales tax increase that had been planned for October next year.

On the other hand, Chinese shares fell for second consecutive day due to profit booking after the launch of landmark Hong Kong-Shanghai trading link.

Sentiments are subdued also on account of weak Chinese home prices data. Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng indices closed with losses of 0.6-1.1% each.

European markets are edging higher anticipating further monetary easing by the European Central Bank (ECB).

ECB President Mario Draghi emphasised the need of further monetary actions including sovereign bond purchase programs to boost regions’ economic recovery.

FTSE 100 and CAC 40 indices are trading with gains of 0.3-0.4% each while DAX index is up 0.7%.

Buzzing Stocks BSE Power and Capital Goods indices closed with biggest gains of 1.3-1.6% each followed by BSE Auto and Metal indices with gains of 0.5-0.9% each.

BSE IT index, down 0.7% lost the most as sentiments were dampened on weakness in major IT shares on Nasdaq which closed down 0.3% on Monday.

Other losing sectors were BSE Consumer Durables and Realty indices closing down around 0.5% each.

Metal shares gained considerably with Sesa Sterlite leading the pack with gains of over 4% as the company is set to take up the Rs 2,500-crore expansion at its copper smelter plant in Tuticorin.

Tata Steel gained around 2%. However, breaking away from the trend Hindalco declined more than 1%.

Among financials, HDFC Bank rebounded after paring early losses and closed with a gain of 1.3% while its twin HDFC was among the biggest loser shedding around 2%.

Trimming early gains, SBI closed up around 0.3% post its robust second quarter earnings.

Further, reports suggest that in order to make gains from rising stock market it has expanded its list of equities for investments to go beyond the National Stock Exchange's Nifty 50 index scrips. Pharma major, Sun Pharma declined close to 2% after paring early gains. The company has recalled about 68,000 bottles of its anti-depressant venlafaxine hydrochloride, from the US market. The company withdrew the drugs, manufactured in its Halol unit in India, after they failed to dissolve properly, said the US Food and Drug Administration.

Meanwhile, acccording to court documents Ranbaxy Laboratories which is to be acquired by Sun Pharma has sued the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for revoking approvals granted to the firm to launch copies of two drugs including AstraZeneca Plc's heartburn pill Nexium. Bharti Airtel gained around 2% as the company will not be affected once the 900MHz spectrum allocated in 1995 comes up for renewal as it smartly bought a lot of 1800 MHz spectrum in February as insurance.

So even if it fails to retain its 900 MHz spectrum, its services will not get disrupted: the subscribers can be migrated from one band to another. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries closed up 0.2% after trimming early gains.

Reliance Jio Infocomm, the telecommunications arm of Reliance Industries Ltd, will raise $1.5 billion from 26 banks to refinance loans it took up in 2010, the company said in a statement late on Monday.

ONGC, down 1.4% closed weak after paring early gains as the roadshows by the government to attract investors to the planned 5% stake sale in the company got underway.

Roadshows will be held in Singapore, Hong Kong, London, New York and Boston, NTPC gained close to 1%.

According to media reports the government is likely to reallocate to state run companies like NTPC their captive coal blocks which were cancelled by the Supreme Court.

Capital Goods majors L&T and BHEL closed with gains of around 2% each.

On Monday, BHEL was in news for commissioning of the second module of a 726 MW plant of ONGC Thermal Power Corporation which is located at the difficult terrain of Palatana, Tripura.

From IT space Infosys and TCS lost 0.5-1.2% each while Wipro rebounded late in the day and gained around 1%

Among other shares, Shares of sugar manufacturers were in demand and traded higher by up to 10% on the BSE on media reports that the government is likely to subsidise the production of ethanol for blending with petrol.

Bajaj Hindusthan closed up around 7% and Balrampur Chini Mills closed with gains of around 4%.

Shares of jewellery companies traded lower by up to 2.5% on concerns that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may increase the restrictions on gold imports.

Titan Company lost more than 1% and Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri closed down 2.6%.