From correspondents in Maharashtra, India, 07:32 PM IST

Indian equity markets ended flat Thursday amidst volatility on the back of buying in metal and oil and gas stocks while telecom, FMCG, banking and select technology stocks were under selling pressure.

The market started on a negative note and continued to trade with loss till afternoon but closed the day with a minimal gain.

The 30-share benchmark of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) sensitive index (Sensex), which opened at 14,359.48 points touched a high of 14,369.59 before closing at 14,355.75 points. It went up 68.54 points or 0.48 percent at the day's close.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) S and amp;P Nifty, which opened at 4,314.35 points, closed at 4,332.95 points. It went up 19.4 points or 0.45 percent.

The BSE Midcap index, which closed at 5,567.37 points, went down 13.64 points or 0.24 percent.

BSE Smallcap index, which closed at 6,912.79 points went down 14.81 points or 0.21 percent.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,287 shares advanced, 1,333 declined and 77 maintained status quo.

Top gainers of the day included Tata Power, which at Rs.1,115.50 was up four percent, Tata Steel at Rs.630.05 gained Rs.3.95 percent, and DLF at Rs.490.70 surged 3.79 percent.

Top losers of the day included Tata Motors, which at Rs.416.30 lost 3.13 percent, Grasim Industries at Rs.1,851.85 lost 2.78 percent and Maruti Suzuki at Rs.588.80 lost 2.36 percent.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)