Markets ended the day flat after trading in the negative for most of the day in the absence of any major global cues. The Sensex ended the day lower by 10 points (provisional), while the Nifty ended the day lower by 2 points.

Among the top gainers from the Nifty were Ambuja Cements, Coal India, ONGC and Tata Motors. Shares of ITC gained marginal ground after reports that the company had hiked the prices of cigarettes. BPCL which had fallen on Tuesday rallied on short covering in the stock.

Nifty stocks that lost ground in trade today were Jaiprakash Associates which fell more then 2 per cent, while other notable losers were Gas Authority of India, DLF, Cairn India and Cipla.

Wockhardt which received a US import alert for its Chikalthana plant lost as much as 8 per cent in trade.

PSU banking stocks which had fallen sharply on Tuesday continued to see selling pressure with Oriental Bank of Commerce, Union Bank of India and State Bank among the losers. However, Canara bank bucked the trend and ended the day higher.

Private sector banks also saw marginal declines with ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank and Kotak among the losers.

Metal stocks ended the day mixed with JSW Steel and Tata Steel gaining, while Sesa Sterlite and NMDC declined.

Meanwhile, European markets were trading flattish with the German DAX, the French CAC and the UK's FTSE seeing marginal gains.

Markets are expected to be volatile on Thursday given the fact that it would be the last day for the Nov F&O expiry.

GoodReturns.in