Mumbai, Nov 22

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets closed flat Friday, down 11.66 points, after falling nearly two percent the previous day on lingering confusion over the US Federal Reserve's action on its $85 billion bond buying programme.

Selling pressure was seen in auto, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), metal, bank and technology, entertainment and media (TECk). However, healthy buying was observed in capital goods, oil and gas, consumer durables, public sector undertakings (PSUs) and healthcare sectors.

The 30-scrip S&P Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 20,316.58 points, closed at 20,217.39 points, down 11.66 points or 0.06 percent from its previous day close at 20,229.05 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 20,388.12 points and a low of 20137.67 points intra-day.

The S&P BSE automobile index tanked 144.97 points, FMCG index dropped 38.55 points, metal index shed 33.17 points, bank index slipped by 20.08 points and TECk index went down by 1.66 points.

The capital goods index was up 107.97 points, oil and gas index was higher by 58.08 points followed by consumer durables index ended the day's trade 36.42 points, PSUs index was 19.87 points higher and healthcare index was up 13.24 points.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed trade 3.60 points or 0.06 percent down at 5,995.45 points.

"Equity markets will react to international news flows and results of forthcoming state elections," said Rajesh Iyer, head, investments, Kotak Wealth Management. 

"Earnings downgrade cycles seems to be bottoming out and sentiment is turning positive but macros are still supporting."

Major Sensex gainers were: ONGC, up 2.79 percent at Rs.278.15; Tata Steel, up 2.44 percent at Rs.392; Gail India, up 2.08 percent at Rs.328.40; HDFC, up 1.91 percent at Rs.794.25; and Larsen and Toubro (L&T), up 1.65 percent at Rs.964.

The main losers were: Sesa Sterlite, down 2.79 percent at Rs.174.35; Tata Motors, down 2.43 percent at Rs.373.25; Bajaj Auto, down 2.15 percent at Rs.1,893.45; ITC, down 1.39 percent at Rs.308.30; and Sun Pharma, down 1.13 percent at Rs.575.25.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 0.10 percent up; while China's Shanghai Composite Index was up by 0.49 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down by 0.43 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was trading 0.11 percent down, Germany's DAX Index was up by 0.06 percent and the French CAC 40 Index was up by 0.37 percent.

By:IANS