Markets end in green amid recovery in late trade

New Delhi: It was a very quiet day for the markets as not much excitement was witnessed through out the day despite it being the last day of F&O expiry.

The markets traded in red territory for most part of the day with marginal losses before pulling back sharply in late trade on account of some short covering and ended flat but in green.

It was a bad day for the banking, realty and energy stocks, broader markets also traded on weak note through the day giving negative breadth to markets.

However, phrmaceutical, metal, capital good and auto stocks performed relatively well. On the volume front, it was quite muted, cash markets performance was extremely abysmal.

Sensex ended down 1.51 points or 0.01 per cent at 17824.48, and the Nifty closed up 16.70 points or 0.32 per cent at 5285.10. About 1398 shares advanced, 1566 shares declined, and 76 shares were unchanged. BSE midcap index ended down 0.15 per cent at 7711.76 and smallcap index closed down 0.06 per cent at 9668.16.

BSE auto index ended up 1.18 percent at 4829.86. Punjab Tractors, Hero Honda and Bajaj Auto stocks were the leading gainers in this space.

BSE capital goods index closed up 0.56per cent at 16598.88. Astra Mocrowave, Alfa Laval, BEML and BHEL were among major gainers.

BSE healthcare index closed up 1.70 per cent at 3925.75. Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's Lab and Biocon and Cipla were the top gainers in pharma space.

BSE metal index ended up 2 per cent at 16972.01. Nalco, Hindalco and Sterlite Industries were the top fliers.

BSE power index closed up 3748.11. In the power space, the star performers were Power Grid, BHEL and Areva T&D.

BSE bankex closed down 0.81per cent at 10073.91. Union Bank, Bank of baroda and PNB were the top losers in this space.

BSE IT index was down 0.14 per cent at 3967.40. Financial Tech, Patni Computers and i-Flex Solution were the top losers.

BSE oil & gas index closed down 0.84 per cent at 11164.87. Reliance, Petronet LNG and HPCL were the top losers.

BSE realty index ended down 1.47 per cent at 9833.01. In the realty sector, the worst performers were Mahindra Life, Purvankara Projects and DLF.

(With inputs from moneycontrol.com)