Mumbai, Jan 8 (IANS) India's domestic benchmark indices closed flat on Wednesday amid muted global cues, as selling was seen in auto, PSU Bank, financial service, pharma, metal and realty sectors. Sensex ended at 78,148.49, down by 50.62 points, or 0.06 per cent, and Nifty settled at 23,688.95, down by 18.95 points or 0.08 per cent. Marginal selling in market led by Bank Nifty. It ended at 49,835 down by 367.10 points, or 0.73 per cent. The Nifty Midcap 100 index closed at 56,270.60 after dropping 598.70 points, or 1.05 per cent, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 index closed at 18,365.65 after declining 307.80 points, or 1.65 per cent.

On the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), 1,390 shares ended in green and 2,582 shares in red, whereas there was no change in 94 shares. On the sectoral front, IT and FMCG segments were major gainers. According to market experts, "slowing economic growth projections and caution ahead of Q3 numbers added volatility in the market," "However, the market witnessed a recovery from the day’s low owing to accumulation of beaten-down blue-chip stocks and in expectation of government reforms in the upcoming budget to lift the tepid economy."

"The near-term sentiment is likely to be subdued due to the rise in US bond yield and fear of fewer rate cuts by the Fed," they added. In the Sensex pack, UltraTech Cement, L&T, Sun Pharma, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, NTPC, SBI, Zomato, Titan, Tata Steel and M&M were the top losers. Whereas, TCS, ITC, Asian Paints, HCL Tech, Maruti Suzuki, Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Hindustan Unilever, PowerGrid, Nestle India and Tata Motors were the top gainers. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 1,491.46 crore on January 7 and domestic institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 1,615.28 crore on the same day.

/IANS