Sensex ends flat amid choppy trade

The benchmark Sensex ended nearly flat, off 10 points, after moving in and out of positive terrain on alternate bouts of buying and selling by cautious operators.

Continued heavy capital outflows, forecast of a below normal rains in 2011, weak European stocks and lingering concerns over the Greek's debt problems despite winning vote of confidence by the newly reshuffled cabinet, mainly weighed on the market sentiment, a broker said.

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He added that recently dumped pledged shares by lenders is not that much problem as it is related to select counters and some blue-chips are now getting at a lower levels and has given a good opportunity to grab it.

The Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share barometer initially touched a high of 17,678.86 on firm Asian cues. But it fell back to settle at 17,550.63, showing a small loss of 9.67 points or 0.06 per cent.

After straight four-sessions of heavy sell-off, the 30-share index Sensex had gained nearly 54 points on Tuesday.

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The NSE 50-issue Nifty, however, edged up by 2.45 points or 0.05 per cent to 5,278.30.

Some counters attracted heavy profit-booking on selling by retail investors. Consumer durable stocks received a heavy blow on selling and the BSE-CD index was top loser from the sectoral indices with a fall of 3.83 per cent. Titan Ind dipped 6.23 per cent, Blue Star by 2.85 per cent and Gitanjali Gem by 2.35 per cent.

The BSE-Realty index was the second loser with a drop of 2.29 per cent. Peninsula Land tumbled by 6.34 per cent, Anant Raj Ind by 5.64 per cent, Indiabull Real Est by 4.32 per cent, Unitech by 3.70 per cent, HDIL by 3.05 per cent and DLF by 1.03 per cent.