Markets End Flat; Axis Bank, Coal India Lead

Benchmark indices ended the day flat despite a solid rally by Axis Bank and Coal India. A sharp cut of 75 basis points in interest rates by the Reserve Bank of India did not boost sentiments too much.

The Sensex ended the day lower by 131 points, while the Nifty ended the day higher by 18 points. Apart from Coal India and Axis Bank, other winners from the Nifty space included Cipla and Power Grid.

Stocks that lost ground from the Nifty space were Bajaj Finance, Hero Motor Corp, Maruti, Bharti Airtel and HCL Tech.

Shares in Bluestar fell to a 3-year low, while gold loan companies like Muthoot Finance and Manapuram Finance were among the winners in trade.

Among the largecap stocks, Bandhan Bank was the biggest gainer jumping almost 18 per cent in trade. The stock has had a stupendous run in the last two days of trading.

Meanwhile, markets across Europe were trading with losses, while Dow Futures too pointed to lower openings for the US markets.