Mumbai, April 8 (IANS) Key Indian equity market indices ended flat on Friday as investors await earnings season from next week.
The sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 24,665.80 points, closed at 24,673.84 points -- down 11.58 points, or 0.05 percent over the previous day's close at 24,685.42 points.
It touched a high of 24,736.03 points and a low of 24,608.51 points in the day's trade.
The wider Nifty of the National Stock Exchange closed 8.75 points or 0.12 percent higher at 7,555.20 points.
"It has been a choppy day on the bourses, with benchmark indices oscillating between the positive and negative zones. Despite some positive news flows on the macro front, markets managed to eke out only marginal gains for the day," said Shreyash Devalkar, fund manager - equities, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund.
"The market has settled flat after a fall of 2 percent during this week. Investors are taking a skeptical view and wish to stand on the sidelines amid concerns over Chinese CPI inflation data on April 10. On the domestic front, the market may witness some fluctuations as the earnings season will kick start from net week," said Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.
The 100-scrip and 200-scrip indices of the BSE were higher by 0.16 percent and 0.20 percent, respectively. The mid-cap index was higher by 0.64 percent, while small-cap stocks were up by 0.63 percent.
In Friday's trade, good buying was observed in utilities, power and realty sectors, while selling pressure was seen in IT sector.
Sector-wise, the S&P BSE utilities index got augmented by 1.59 percent, power index moved up by 1.58 percent and realty index inched up by 1.44 percent. However, IT index slipped by 0.82 percent.
The major Sensex gainers on Friday were: NTPC, up 3.95 percent at Rs.131.55; BHEL, up 2.64 percent at Rs.122.45; Lupin, up 2.27 percent at Rs.1,540.75; and GAIL, up 2.02 percent at Rs.348.10.
The losers were: TCS, down 1.71 percent at Rs.2,428.70; Hero MotoCorp, down 1.62 percent at Rs.2,920.30; Hindustan Unilever, down 1.23 percent at Rs.850; and Maruti, down 1.22 percent at Rs.3,428.85.
Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei was higher by 0.46 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained by 0.51 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index ended lower by 0.75 percent.
In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was higher by 0.81 percent, France's CAC 40 was up by 1 percent and Germany's DAX Index was up by 1.09 percent at the closing of the Indian markets.
