Sensex trades flat due to high crude price and foreign fund outflow

Mumbai, Apr 20 (UNI) The benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened with a gain of 46 points at 11,941 as compared to the last close of 11,895.

The Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE made another attempt at climbing the 12,000 mark as it rose to 11976.54. Sensex traded flat with just 21 points up at 11,917 at 1128 hrs.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) S&P CNX Nifty index traded five points up at 3,541 points at 1128 hrs.

Among the sectoral indices, BSE Oil&Gas index was up by 1.75 per cent, BSE Metal index was up by 1.53 per cent, and BSE Capital Goods index was up by one per cent. Most of the other indices were down.

The top gainers on the Sensex were led by Reliance Industries which was up by 2.62 per cent at Rs 945, which was an all-time high.

Other gainers were Hindalco, Bajaj Auto, Tata Steel, Grasim Industries, ONGC, Satyam Computers, NTPC, BHEL and Tata Power.

The losers were HDFC, Ranbaxy, TCS, Bharti Tele, Hero Honda, HDFC Bank, Gujarat Ambuja Cements, Wipro, Hindustan Lever and Tata Motor.

Foreign fund outflow of Rs 273.90 crore, as reported by the SEBI on Tuesday when Sensex gained 281 points, may hurt investors' sentiment.

Record high crude oil price at USD 73-72 per barrel was also hurting market sentiments.

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