Mumbai: Indian equity markets on Monday closed flat with a positive bias after a volatile session which saw Nifty50 hold 17,850 levels while Sensex retained 60,000 mark. At closing bell, The 30-share BSE index closed at 60,078, up by almost 20 points while NSE blue-chip gauge ended the day at 17,855, up by 2 points from its previous close on Friday.   

Market breadth was also flat as 15 Nifty stocks advanced against 15 stocks declining on the index. Maruti, Tata Motors, M&M and ONGC were among top gainers, while HCL Tech, Divi’s Lab, Wipro and Tech Mahindra were laggards.

Heavy profit booking in IT and pharmaceutical limited the impact of a sharp recovery in auto stocks. Further, financials and realty indices extended gains today.

Sectoral gauge Nifty IT declined over 2.8 percent during the trading session as market participants preferred to book profits ahead of September quarter earnings. The Nifty Auto index was the top gainer among sectoral indices, ending the session 3% higher from its Friday close.  

Auto stocks saw a strong uptrend on Monday as continued underperformance for last couple of months, hopes of improvement in demand scenario from October and positive commentary from select companies about global semiconductor shortage made investors confident of quality names in OEMs.

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