Market ends steady in a see-saw trade; investors long for fresh cues

Mumbai, Dec 30 () Benchmark indices closed on a flat note after a topsy-turvy session on Monday, with participants fence-sitting in absence of further cues ahead of year-end holidays.

At the closing bell, the BSE benchmark Sensex was 17.14 points, or 0.04 per cent, lower at 41,558. The 30-share gauge swung between a high of 41,714.73 and low of 41,453.38 in a highly volatile session.

The broader NSE Nifty, however, closed 10.05 points, or 0.08 per cent, higher at 12,255.85. The 50-share index too faced bouts of volatility during the day.

ICICI Bank was the top loser in the Sensex pack, shedding 0.99 per cent, followed by SBI, TCS, HUL, Asian Paints and Axis Bank.

On the other hand, Nestle India, Hero MotoCorp, Mahindra and Mahindra, Bharti Airtel and Tata Steel were among the gainers.

Sectorally, BSE IT, bankex, finance, teck and oil and gas indices closed in the red.

While, BSE auto, metal, telecom, industrial and basic materials were among the prominent gainers.

In the broader market, BSE midcap and smallcap indices outperformed benchmarks, rallying up to 0.75 per cent.

"Market was range-bound, premium valuation and lack of fresh triggers influenced investors to take cautious approach on heavyweights. But reasonable valuation of mid and small caps attracted inflows leading to outperformance in the broad market. We expect this polarised valuation not to sustain, there could be shift of money from the overvalued large caps to midcaps in 2020," Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said.

Globally, bourses in Shanghai and Hong Kong ended higher, while those in Tokyo and Seoul settled in the red.

Stock exchanges in Europe started on a negative note.

There was hardly any significant news flow on the domestic front, however, in the coming days the focus will remain on monthly numbers from auto companies and on the GDP numbers, analysts commented.

On the currency front, the rupee was 4 paise higher at 71.34 against the US dollar.

Brent futures, the global oil benchmark, advanced marginally to USD 66.94 per barrel. ANS MKJ