Sensex ends flat; Nifty at all-time high

Key stock indices inched higher on Tuesday, closing at fresh life time highs amid continued strength seen in the rupee against the Dollar.

It was lacklustre session though which saw both the benchmarks -- Nifty and Sensex move in a narrow range. Capital goods, realty and power stocks led from the front while losses in oil & gas heavyweights offset the gains.

The 50-unit National stock exchange Nifty index edged 6 points higher to end at its all-time high of 6,589.75 while Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex ended flat with a negative bias at 22,055 levels, it touched an all-time intra-day high of 22,079.96 during the day.

Investor sentiment remained subdued globally as uncertainty over Ukraine loomed amid concerns over global economy. Meanwhile, hopes of economic reforms in China after recent slowdown capped the downside in stocks.

Japan's Nikkei dropped 0.4 per cent while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan also dipped 0.2 per cent.

The European shares edged higher on bargain hunting after recent drop in stock prices over geopolitcal tensions. UK’s FTSE, French CAC 40 and DAX of Germany opened around 0.9 percent higher, bouncing after Monday's 1 percent drop.

Back home, an improved economic outlook amid hopes of recovery post elections and recent rallies in the stock market helped the rupee surge to a seven-month high against the green back.

It breached the appreciation mark of Rs 60.50 in afternoon trades due to dollar flows in equities.

It was quoting at Rs 60.50 compared with previous close of Rs 60.79. The rupee had opened at Rs 60.61 and so far in intra-day trades it touched a high of Rs 60.43 per dollar.

Among BSE indices that track various industrial sectors, BSE Power, capital goods, consumer durables are up between 1-1.6% while Oil & gas, IT and healthcare are on the losing side.  

Oil & gas majors Reliance Industries and ONGC came under pressure in early trades after gas price hike was halted by the election commission (EC) until 2014 elections.

EC had yesterday asked the government to defer notifying doubling of price of the fuel produced by companies such as Reliance Industries till general elections are completed.

Among blue-chips, banking and financial majors HDFC and ICICI Bank, capital goods majors Larsen & Toubro, BHEL and FMCG biggies such as HUL and ITC were the among the top gainers.