Sensex ends flat in volatile trade, down by 4 points

In choppy trade, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today ended with a marginal fall of about four points as heavyweight Reliance Industries tumbled 3.73% because the company's quarterly results were worse than what the markets expected.

The Sensex, which gained nearly 14% in the last two weeks, attracted profit selling and closed lower by 3.92 points at 15,375.04, after moving between 15,463.09 and 15,228.46.

However, the National Stock Exchange index Nifty gained 3.75 points at 4,572.30. It touched the day's high of 4,596.75 and a low of 4,528.50 points.

The markets remained volatile throughout the session as Reliance Industries lost 3.73% after it turned out to be an exception in the general story of good corporate results for the April-June quarter.

Among the 30 Sensex stocks, 14 closed with losses while 16 gained.

Overseas funds bought stocks of a net 146.6 million dollar on July 23, taking total investments in equities this year to 6.57 billion dollar.

Short-coverings as well as rolling over of positions to the next series ahead of the expiry of derivatives contracts on coming Thursday also helped the recovery.

The oil & gas index was down 3.09% at 9,298.83. The auto sector index was the second-worst performer, losing 0.51% to 5,517.28, followed by the banking index by 0.07% to 8,329.33.

The falling market was checked from any major fall as stocks in FMCG, realty, power, metal, consumer durables, teck, capital goods, IT and healthcare rose on investment buying.