Sensex ends flat as inflation rises to 16-month high

Mumbai: Amid inflation soaring to 16-month high in February, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today closed flat at 17,164.99 points discarding reports of good health of India Inc as reflected in their advance tax payments for March quarter, reports PTI.

After a highly volatile trade, the 30-share Sensex closed 1.63 points, or 0.01 percent, down at 17,164.99 points. The chart showing the 52 week performance of Sensex is on the left. Higher tax payments by corporate saw the Sensex smartly recovering early losses of over 100 points, but unrelenting inflation did not help lift the sentiment further. The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty ended lower by 8.10 points at 5,128.90 points.

Brokers said the sentiment turned volatile after the official data showed that inflation rose to 9.89 percent in February, forcing major players to adopt a cautious approach even reducing their positions at prevailing higher levels. In the 30 BSE index counters, 15 ended with gains. Among sectoral indices, IT and FMCG ended in the positive zone with gains up to 1.37 percent, while PSU, banking and capital goods stocks ended in the negative zone.

Among IT stocks, Wipro rose 2.71 percent to 727.75, Infosys by 1.07 percent to 2,701.20, TCS by 2.27 percent to 814.80 and HCL Tech by 2.70 percent to 369.35. Asian stocks today ended weak. Key indices from China, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan closed in the red. European markets were trading feeble in their morning deals.