Sensex and Nifty settle flat in highly volatile trade on FII selling & weak Sept qtr results

Mumbai: Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty closed flat in highly volatile trade on Monday as continuous FII selling, disappointing quarterly earnings and weak trends from Asian markets dented investor sentiment.

After gyrating between highs and lows, benchmark Sensex eked out gains of 9.83 points or 0.01 per cent to settle at 79,496.15.

The NSE Nifty dipped marginally by 6.90 points or 0.03 per cent to 24,141.30.

From the 30-share Sensex pack, Asian Paints tumbled over 8 per cent after the company on Saturday reported a 43.71 per cent decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 693.66 crore for the September quarter, impacted by soft-demand conditions, material price inflation and a decline in decorative and coatings business in the domestic market.

Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance, Mahindra & Mahindra, JSW Steel, NTPC, Adani Ports, Bajaj Finserv and Larsen & Toubro were also among the laggards.

However, Power Grid, HCL Technologies, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services and ICICI Bank were among the gainers.

Among sectoral indices, commodities fell by 1.25 per cent, metal by 0.97 per cent, FMCG by 0.90 per cent, oil & gas by 0.79 per cent and auto by 0.67 per cent.

Financial Services, IT, bankex, power and tech were the gainers.

Declining for the fourth straight session, the rupee dropped 1 paisa to hit a new lifetime low of 84.38 against the US dollar on Monday.