Markets close flat after a range bound trading

Key benchmark indices closed on a flat note as investors treaded cautiously on account of February month derivative expiry and the Union Budget 2013-14.

The S&P BSE Sensex closed up 15 points at 19,332 and the 50-share Nifty added 4 points at 5,855 levels.

In the intra-day deals, the Sensex touched a high of 19,411 and a low of 19,238 while the Nifty saw a high of 5,878 and a low of 5,825 in today's trade.

In the broader markets, the midcap index slipped 1.2% and the smallcap index lost 1.4%, underperforming the benchmark index, Sensex through the day. Welspun Corp fell as much as 28% and Core Education lost as much as 64.5% on speculation that the pledged shares of these companies were being sold off.

In Asia, Nikkei average soared 2.4% to a 53-month high on Monday with exporters leading gains on a weaker yen, after sources said Japan was likely to nominate Asian Development Bank President Haruhiko Kuroda, an advocate of aggressive monetary easing, as its next central bank governor.

Hong Kong shares ended just above a 2013 low on Monday, as strength in index heavyweight HSBC Holdings offset weakness in local developers after the city government announced more measures last week to cool the market. The Hang Seng Index closed up 0.2% at 22,820.

European shares added to a cautious recovery from multi-month lows early on Monday ahead of the end of voting in a closely-fought election in Italy, seen as

crucial to efforts to dig the euro zone out of crisis.the FTSEurofirst 300 was up 0.2% at 1,168.42.

Back home, among the sectoral indices, Realty index crashed 2.4% followed by Capital Goods, Metal, Oil & Gas and PSU indices, which lost 1-1.7% each. On the other hand, IT and Teck index gained between1-2%. Auto index too added 0.8%.

The top gainers among the Sensex stocks were Infosys up nearly 3% after IT bellwether unveiled a central processing centre at Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh to enable the income tax department to efficiently administer tax deduction at source (TDS).

Tata Motors, Hero MotoCorp, BHEL, TCS, Sun Pharma and SBI up 1% each were among the other notable gainers.

On the losing side were Cipla, L&T, ONGC and Coal India down 2% each. Reliance Industries, Tata Steel, NTPC and Bharti Airtel down 1% were the other major losers.

Among individual stocks, Ranbaxy gained nearly 5% as HSBC raised its rating to 'overweight' from 'underweight' after the Indian drugmaker said it would resume production of a generic version of cholesterol fighter Lipitor for sale in the United States.

Shares of Jet Airways fell 4% hitting their lowest since December 4, on continued concerns about whether the carrier will clinch a deal to sell its stake to Abu Dhabi-based carrier Etihad Airways.

Stock of Pantaloon Retail, the country's largest retailer, ended over 3% lower today ahead of its quarterly earnings

The market breadth was very negative owing to the correction in broader markets. 1,279 stocks declined while 897 stocks advanced on the BSE.