Sensex Finishes On A Flat Note; Bank & Auto Stocks Witness Selling Pressure

Indian share markets continued to trade range bound in afternoon session amid mixed international markets after US tax bill was passed in the Senate and Bank of Japan kept interest rates steady.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex closed lower by 21 points and the NSE Nifty finished lower by 15 points. The S&P BSE Mid Cap finished up by 0.8% while S&P BSE Small Cap finished up by 1.1%. Gains were largely seen in power sector, capital goods sector, and pharma sector. Auto stocks and bank stocks witnessed majority of the selling activity.

Asian stock markets finished mixed as of the most recent closing prices. The Hang Seng gained 0.45% and the Shanghai Composite rose 0.38%. The Nikkei 225 lost 0.11%. European markets are mixed. The FTSE 100 is higher by 0.11%, while the CAC 40 is leading the DAX lower. They are down 0.22% and 0.21% respectively.

Rupee was trading at Rs 64.09 against the US$ in the afternoon session. Oil prices were trading at US$ 58.02 at the time of writing.

As per an article in The Livemint, mutual funds pumped in a net of Rs 120.80 billion of Indian shares in November while DIIs invested a net of Rs 92.43 billion in the asset class last month.

Mutual funds stocked up shares of Larsen & Toubro Ltd, ITC Ltd, and Bharti Airtel Ltd the most in November, reflecting the launch of Bharat 22 ETF (exchange-traded fund), while they locked in gains in HDFC Bank Ltd and Reliance Industries Ltd.

The government launched the Bharat 22 ETF, managed by ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, on 14 November, targeting an initial amount of about Rs 80 billion. The new fund offer (NFO) was subscribed four times the initial size of Rs 80 billion.

In news from engineering sector, ABB India has won an order worth Rs 1.34 billion to supply state-of-the-art traction equipment for electric locomotives, manufactured by Chittaranjan Locomotive works (CLW).