MUMBAI: Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty closed almost unchanged on Monday in a highly volatile trade amid caution ahead of the July 9 US tariff deadline, weak trends in Asian markets and foreign fund outflows.
After oscillating between highs and lows, the 30-share BSE Sensex finally ended 9.61 points or 0.01 per cent up at 83,442.50. The index hit a high of 83,516.82 and a low of 83,262.23 during the day.
The 50-share NSE Nifty ended unchanged at 25,461.30 with 22 of its constituents settling higher and 28 in the red.
Gains in FMCG and oil shares were offset by losses in IT and metal shares.
Volatile trends engulfed markets amid concerns surrounding the US-India trade deal, experts said.
July 9 marks the end of the 90-day suspension period of the Trump tariffs imposed on dozens of countries, including India. An additional import duty of 26 per cent was announced on Indian goods entering the US.
"Indian equity markets ended on a flat note on Monday, with the benchmark Nifty opening at 25,450, touching an intraday low of 25,407 and a high of 25,489. The index largely traded in a narrow range throughout the session as investors remained cautious ahead of the anticipated US tariff announcements.
"Market participants appeared reluctant to take aggressive positions, keeping the broader index range-bound," Sundar Kewat, Technical and Derivatives Analyst, Ashika Institutional Equity, said.
From the Sensex firms, Hindustan Unilever, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Trent, Reliance Industries, Asian Paints and ITC were among the gainers.
However, Bharat Electronics Ltd, Tech Mahindra, UltraTech Cement, Maruti and Eternal were among the laggards.
The BSE smallcap gauge declined 0.33 per cent and midcap index dipped 0.15 per cent.
Among BSE sectoral indices, FMCG jumped the most by 1.50 per cent, followed by utilities (0.71 per cent), oil & gas (0.31 per cent), power (0.31 per cent), energy (0.28 per cent) and services (0.16 per cent).
Telecommunication dropped 1.24 per cent, BSE Focused IT (0.74 per cent), commodities (0.66 per cent), IT (0.65 per cent) and metal (0.60 per cent).
"Markets made a muted start to the week and ended almost unchanged, continuing the ongoing consolidation phase. Markets remain in a wait-and-watch mode ahead of trade deal updates and the start of the earnings season," Ajit Mishra – SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said.
In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng settled lower while South Korea's Kospi and Shanghai's SSE Composite index ended higher. European markets were trading on a mixed note.
The US markets ended in positive territory on Friday.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude went up by 0.29 per cent to USD 68.50 a barrel.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 760.11 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.