Mumbai, Nov 8 (IANS) The Indian stock market closed flat on Friday as selling was seen in the auto, PSU bank, financial service, metal, and realty sectors at the end of trading. Sensex slipped 55.47 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 79,486.32.
On the other hand, Nifty fell 51.15 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 24,148.20.
Nifty Bank fell 355.30 points or 0.68 per cent to 51,561.20. Nifty Midcap 100 index closed at 56,352.00 at the end of trading after falling 757.15 points or 1.33 per cent. The Nifty Smallcap 100 index closed at 18,445.60 after falling 318.25 points or 1.70 per cent.
The realty, energy, and media sectors of Nifty fell by more than 2 per cent. Apart from this, selling was seen in auto, PSU bank, financial service, metal, private bank and infra sector.
Asian Paints (NS:ASPN), Tata Steel (NS:TISC), SBI (NS:SBI), Tata Motors (NS:TAMO), Reliance (NS:RELI), NTPC (NS:NTPC), ICICI Bank (NS:ICBK) and Bharti Airtel (NS:BRTI) were the top losers in the Sensex pack. At the same time, M&M (NS:MAHM), Titan (NS:TITN), Tech Mahindra (NS:TEML), Nestle (NS:NEST) India, and Infosys (NS:INFY) were the top gainers.
On the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), 1,397 stocks were trading in green, 2,574 in red, and there was no change in 93 shares.
According to market experts, consolidation continued in the market as investors stayed cautious due to disappointment in earnings and the flight of FIIs. The US Fed continued its rate-cutting cycle to stimulate the economy and is expecting a similar 25-bps rate cut in the December policy meet amid moderation in inflation, they said. They further added that inflation in India is projected to rise in October and the strong US dollar will force the RBI to keep rates on hold in the near future.
--IANS
skt/na/vd