Markets end flat ahead of May F&O expiry

Markets ended flat on Wednesday, amid a lacklustre trading session, ahead of expiry of May F&O derivative contracts tomorrow while selling by foreign institutional investors also weighed on investor sentiment.

Also, FII were net sellers in Indian equities in the four of the five previous five trading sessions.

At close, the Sensex was up seven points at 24,556 and the Nifty gained 11 points to end the session at 7,330.

Earlier in the day, the markets witnessed a positive opening on back of supportive Asian cues.

However, profit taking played spoilsport and the benchmark indices plunged into the negative territory.

From thereon, the markets remained choppy with the key indices alternating between positive and negative zone.

Meanwhile, the broader markets saw some significant buying.

The small cap index gained 1.6% and the midcap index rose 0.4%, both outperforming the BSE benchmark index which was flat.

Sectors & Stocks

On the sectoral front, IT and Realty indices gained over a percent each and were the top movers in today's trade.

On the other hand, Metal, Consumer Durables and Auto down 0.7-1.6% were the only indices in red. FMCG index was flat with a negative bias.

Banking and Capital Goods indices added 0.6% and 0.4% respectively.

Tata Power, HDFC Bank, Hero MotoCorp and Bharti Airtel up 2-4% were the top gainers among Sensex-30.

IT majors TCS, Infosys and Wipro edged higher by 1-1.5%.

Index heavyweight, Reliance Industries was almost unchanged.

Among the ones in red were Coal India, ONGC, M&M, Gail India, NTPC, Tata Motors down 1.7-3.3%.

Metal names like Tata Steel and Hindalco settled 1.7% lower.

The market breadth was positive on BSE. 1,906 stocks advanced while 1052 stocks declined.

Global Markets

Strong economic data in the United States shored up Asian stocks to one-year highs on Wednesday; with another record close for the S&P 500 underpinning risk appetite and sending safe-haven gold to 3-1/2 month lows.

Riskier asset markets sped up overnight after the United States reported an unexpected rise in durable goods orders in April and higher home prices for March.

Services industries, which dominate the economy, also grew at a rapid clip in May.

The sunny mood saw MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan scale a fresh one-year high, up 0.6%. Tokyo's Nikkei ticked up 0.4%, and South Korean shares rose 0.8%.

All the major European markets- CAC, DAX and FTSE- were flat with a positive bias.