Mumbai, Sep 24 (IANS): A day after a 430-point fall, a benchmark index of Indian equities market closed Wednesday's trade flat -- down 31 points or 0.12 percent -- as capital goods, bank and consumer durables stocks slumped.
Bearish sentiment in the market loomed as the Supreme Court cancelled all the coal blocks allocated between 1993 and 2011.
Hit by the apex court's judgment, stocks of mining, metal and power majors such as Jindal Steel and Power, Tata Steel, Bhushan Steel, Hindalco Industries and Monnet Ispat and Energy fell.
However, healthy buying was observed in fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), healthcare and oil and gas sectors.
The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 26,817.94 points, closed trade at 26,744.69 points, down 31 points or 0.12 percent from the previous day's close at 26,775.69 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 26,844.70 points and a low of 26,560 points in the intra-trade.
The S&P capital goods index lost 248.21 points, bank index was lower by 197.39 points, consumer durables dipped 123.74 points, automobile index slumped by 91.23 points and realty index slipped by 28.27 points.
The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also closed flat -- but up 15.15 points or 0.19 percent at 8,002.40 points.
Company-wise, stocks of Jindal Steel and Power were down 9.99 percent at Rs.189.70; Bhusan Steel was down 4.96 percent at Rs.107.30; Tata Steel was down 2.63 percent at Rs.473.30; Hindalco Inds was down 0.48 percent at Rs.156.30; Monnet Ispat was down 8.16 percent at Rs.87.25; and Steel Authority of India was down 2.89 percent at Rs.68.95.
Also, stocks of power companies such as Adani Power were down 2.10 percent at Rs.46.70; GVK Power and Infrastructure was down 6.60 percent at Rs.10.19; JP Power was down 5.86 percent at Rs.13.65; and Moser Baer was down 4.10 percent at Rs.7.48.
The Supreme Court has cancelled all the coal blocks allocated from 1993 to 2011, except four vested with the NTPC and other public sector undertakings.
As a consequence of this order, 214 coal blocks stand cancelled. Only four coal blocks were spared from cancellation. Out of four blocks one each belongs to NTPC and Steel Authority and two others which were allocated to Reliance Power's Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPPs).
Shares of state-run Coal India's scrip gained 5.20 percent at Rs.351.5. NTPC's scrip was higher by 0.91 percent at Rs.138.05 and Reliance Power up 5.34 percent at Rs.75.90.
The major Sensex gainers were: Hindustan Unilever, up 2.87 percent at Rs.764.15; Cipla, up 2.62 percent at Rs.600.35; ITC, up 1.58 percent at Rs.376.75; Wipro, up 1.56 percent at Rs.591.35; and ONGC, up 1.50 percent at Rs.413.55.
The losers were: State Bank of India, down 2.68 percent at Rs.2,487.40; Larsen and Toubro (L&T), down 2.09 percent at Rs.1,465.45; BHEL, down 2.06 percent at Rs.212; Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), down 1.69 percent at Rs.2,643.45; and ICICI Bank, down 1.42 percent at Rs.1,516.60.
Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 0.24 percent down. However, China's Shanghai Composite Index was higher by 1.47 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.35 percent.
In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was trading 0.08 percent down. However, Germany's DAX Index was up by 0.15 percent, and the French CAC 40 Index was higher by 0.56 percent at the closing bell here.