Benchmark indices ended flat on Monday amid profit-booking while the volatility index rose 6.67 per cent to end at 18.05 signalling caution among traders, as the valuation remains stretched.

Market opened on a positive note on the back of economic revival in the country. The BSE Sensex recorded a fresh high during the morning trade at 60,412.32. However, benchmark indices erased all gains and ended flat amid profit-booking in IT, FMCG and pharma stocks.

The BSE Sensex closed at 60,077.88, up 29.41 points or 0.05 per cent. It hit an intraday low of 59,887.19. The Nifty 50 closed at 17,855.10, up 1.90 points or 0.01 per cent. It hit an intraday high of 17,943.50 and a low of 17,802.90.

Decliners outnumber

The market breadth remained negative with as many as 1,718 stocks declining on the BSE, as compared to 1,635 stocks that advanced while 183 remained unchanged. Furthermore, 368 stocks hit the upper circuit as compared to the 231 stocks that were locked in the lower circuit.

Besides, 236 stocks touched a 52-week high level and 33 touched a 52-week low.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said, "Due to profit booking in IT, Pharma and FMCG, domestic markets failed to uphold its winning streak to close flat in a volatile session.”

“Realty stocks continued its rally on positive developments in the sector while the sentiments in the auto sector were lifted on expectation of better sales numbers for September. The market is also awaiting the release of August’s core sector output data and September’s manufacturing PMI data this week," added Nair.

Maruti, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors, ONGC and Hero Motocorp were the top gainers on the Nifty 50 while HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Divi’s Lab and Bajaj Finserv were the top losers.

Auto, realty in focus

Binod Modi, Head Strategy at Reliance Securities, said, “Domestic equites traded in range-bound amid positive cues from global equities. However, heavy profit booking in IT and pharma nullified the impact of sharp recovery in auto stocks. Auto stocks witnessed strong rebound today as continued underperformance for last couple of months, expectations of improvement in demand scenario from October and positive commentary from select companies about semiconductor issue made investors to buy quality names in OEMs.”

On the sectoral front, auto stocks saw buying interest coming back, while realty stocks sustained the current momentum. However, IT, FMCG and pharma saw heavy profit booking.

The Nifty Auto index closed 3.22 per cent higher and the Nifty Realty was up 2.99 per cent. The Nifty Oil & Gas also gained 1.31 per cent.

But, the Nifty IT was down 2.88 per cent at closing. Nifty FMCG was down 0.90 per cent while the Nifty Consumer Durables was down 0.39 per cent. The Nifty Pharma and the Nifty Healthcare Index were down 0.93 per cent and 1.26 per cent, respectively.

Broader indices

As for the broader market, midcaps outperformed the benchmarks while smallcaps continued to witness selling pressure.

Nifty Midcap 50 was up 0.33 per cent while Nifty Smallcap 50 was down 0.33 per cent. The S&P BSE Midcap ended flat while the S&P BSE Smallcap was down 0.13 per cent.

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