The Sensex and Nifty ended flat on Thursday due to profit-booking by funds and retail investors amid firm global cues.

The 30-share BSE index Sensex ended lower by 27.05 points or 0.08 per cent at 33,573.22 against the previous close of 33,600.27 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty closed down by 16.7 points or 0.16 per cent at 10,423.80 against the previous close of 10,440.50.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, healthcare index gained the most by 2.48 per cent, followed by consumer durables 1.26 per cent, power 0.34 per cent and IT 0.3 per cent. On the other hand, FMCG index fell 0.93 per cent, followed by auto 0.61 per cent, oil & gas 0.34 per cent and metal 0.3 per cent.

Top five Sensex gainers were Lupin (+3.26%), Sun Pharma (+2.69%), PowerGrid (+2.14%), Dr Reddy's (+1.88%) and Coal India (+1.54%), while the major losers were Hero MotoCorp (-2.19%), ITC (-1.52%), ONGC (-1.52%), State Bank of India (-1.52%) and HUL (-1.4%).

Drug makers led by Divi's Laboratories Ltd staged a rally after the US Food and Drug Administration lifted the import alert on one of the company's production plants.

Tech Mahindra Ltd and JSW Energy Ltd fell after their September quarter earnings report failed to please investors. Tech Mahindra fell as much as 5.7 percent while JSW Energy dropped as much as 4.7 per cent.

However, the Nifty Pharma index rose as much as 3.6 per cent to its highest since July 24, boosted by Divi's Labs.

Domestic markets had hit record highs in the previous session, on continued optimism after the government's recent decision to inject more funds into state-run lenders.

“We've started on slightly uncertain footing, and yesterday's momentum is missing,” said Anand James, chief market strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

“We need further cues to keep pushing indexes higher.”

Asian shares touched a 10-year high on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve expressed optimism about the economy, virtually cementing the case for a year-end rate hike as investors awaited the formal nomination of the next head of the central bank.

But investors were nervous as they awaited a tax Bill from squabbling Republicans in the US House of Representatives, which was expected later in the session after a one-day delay.

Also later on Thursday, the Bank of England was expected to deliver its the first rate hike in more than a decade, following the pattern set by the Fed and to an extent by the European Central Bank, which has said it will start to scale back its years of stimulus.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.2 percent, climbing to its highest levels since November 2007.

Japan's Nikkei stock index was up 0.2 percent at the end of morning trading, probing fresh 21-year highs and on track to gain over 2 per cent in a holiday-shortened week. Japanese markets will be closed for a national holiday on Friday. US S&P e-mini futures were down 0.2 per cent.

(With inputs from Reuters)

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