The Hindu Business Line : Markets choppy, Sensex ends flat

MUMBAI: The stock market erased most of the early gains made in the last one hour trading following profit booking amid some fresh selling by traders and investors.

While the positive factors such as firm Asian and European markets and Goldman Sachs’ forecast of a faster growth for the domestic economy kept the market in better shape during the day, a rise in food inflation capped the gains towards the last hour tra de. Food inflation has touched 17.47 per cent in the third week of November.

The Sensex closed marginally higher by 15.77 points at 17,185.68 points.

The Nifty ended up by 8.55 points at 5,131.70 points.

Earlier, the Sensex opened higher and touched a high of 17,361 on emergence of buying by funds and retail investors in energy, metal, realty and consumer durables stocks. The rally was also attributed to strong Asian markets.

Anil Ambani companies’ shares were in the limelight today. Shares of Reliance Power, Reliance Capital and RCom notched up over 2 per cent gains today.

Other top gainers during the session were Cipla, Ranbaxy, Grasim, ONGC, Siemens, Hindalco and Unitech.

Of the total 2,838 scrips traded during the session, 1,650 have advanced and 1,115 scrips declined. — Our Bureau

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