Taking Stock | Market ends flat amid volatility; auto, IT drag, metals shine

Taking Stock | Market ends flat amid volatility; auto, IT drag, metals shine

The Indian market started the holiday-shortened week on a negative note on May 2 amid weak global markets but some last-hour buying helped the benchmarks recover losses to end flat.

At close, the Sensex was down 84.88 points, or 0.15 percent, at 56,975.99 and the Nifty was down 33.40 points, or 0.2 percent, at 17,069.10.

The market will remain shut on May 3 on account of Eid.

"The recent hawkish turn by the Fed has made investors extra cautious ahead of the upcoming Fed meeting, triggering high volatility in the market," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

The rising dollar index, FII selling spree and elevated commodity prices further hammered the risk sentiment, he said.

On the other hand, domestic numbers like the goods and service tax collections, auto sales numbers and April’s Manufacturing PMI gave a sense of an improving economic outlook, Nair said.

Apollo Hospitals, Eicher Motors, Titan Company, Bajaj Auto and Wipro were among the top Nifty losers, while gainers were IndusInd Bank, Coal India, Tata Steel, Power Grid Corporation and HDFC.

Among sectors, auto and IT indices fell a percent each, while the metal index gained 0.5 percent.

Stocks and sectors

On the BSE, capital goods, auto and IT