Sensex closes flat, smallcap and midcap stocks gain

Mumbai: Indian equity indices closed flat on Friday following a volatile session.

At closing, Sensex was at 79,996, down 53 points and Nifty was up 21 points or 0.09 per cent, at 24,323.

Buying is seen in midcap and smallcap stocks. The Nifty midcap 100 index was up 470 points or 0.83 per cent, at 57,089 and the Nifty smallcap 100 index was up 148 points or 0.79 per cent, at 18,941.

HDFC Bank, the leading private lender was down by 4.58 per cent at closing, which primarily influenced the Nifty Bank adversely by 0.83 per cent at closing.

In the Sensex, Reliance, SBI, NTPC, HUL, L&T, Nestle, Power Grid, ITC, JSW Steel, Wipro, Sun Pharma, Kotak Mahindra and Bajaj Finance were the gainers. HDFC Bank, Titan, Tata Steel, M&M, IndusInd Bank, and UltraTech Cement were the losers.

Vaibhav Vidwani, Research Analyst, Bonanza Portfolio, said that today the Asian stock markets reached new highs, buoyed by expectations of U.S. interest rate cuts in September.

“10-year US treasury yield fell as the US market awaits the jobs data that is due on Friday. Many investors are hoping that Friday’s jobs data will indicate that the labour market and economy are cooling, as this could support the case for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts,” he added.

Among the sectoral indices, PSU Bank, Pharma, FMCG, Metal, Energy, Infra, and PSE closed in the green, and Private Bank and Fin Services in the red.