Stock market today - a summary

As expected, the market today started on a positive note but by the end it gave up its gain and ended almost flat. The BSE Sensex closed at 19409.69, down 14.41 points over the previous close, before touching an intra-day high of 19478 and a day's low of 19362. The NSE Nifty closed at at 5908.90, up 1.50 points, before it touched a day’s high of 5,920 and a day’s low of 5888.

BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap indices outperformed their large cap counterparts, edging higher by 0.7% and 0.3% respectively. The BSE Realty index was the top gainer, up 1.1% followed by BSE Healthcare index up 1%, BSE Banking index gained 0.3% and BSE FMCG index added 0.2%. On the other hand, the BSE Consumer Durables index declined 1.5%, BSE Teck index fell 1% and BSE IT index was down 1%.

Tata Power, SBI, Tata Steel, Hero MotoCorp,  BHEL, HDFC, ONGC, Dr Reddy’s Lab, Bajaj Auto were among top gainers in Sensex and Nifty. While RIL, TCS, Infosys, ICICI Bank, NTPC, M&M, Tata Motors, Sun Pharma, Tata Motors, L&T, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, Hindalco Industries were among top losers in Sensex and Nifty. The biggest loosers today was Balrampur Chini (down 9.25 percent) followed by Bajaj Hindusthan (down 1.25 percent) and Shree Renuka Sugars (down 2.2 percent).

Markets were stuck in a narrow trading band and were struggling for any specific direction. However, the Mid-Cap and the small-Cap banking stocks were in focus as the UPA government after winning the FDI battle for Retail in Parliament, now plans to introduce the Banking Act Amendment Bill.