Sensex, Nifty lacklustre; Jindal Steel, Sterlite top losers

The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty remained lacklustre since early trade as the buying in capital goods, metals and private banks counterbalanced the fall in fast moving consumer goods, technology, healthcare and power stocks.

The 30-share BSE benchmark was down 19 points to 17,659.69 and the 50-share NSE benchmark declined 8 points to 5,342.05.

Private power producer Tata Power topped the buying list with 2.6% gains while state-run NTPC was up 1%.

Country's largest IT services exporters Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys gained more than 1%.

Public sector lender State Bank of India bounced back with 0.5% gains whereas private sector lenders ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank were down 0.2% and 0.7%, respectively.

Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro fell more than 1% while state-owned power equipment manufacturer BHEL declined 0.76%.

Jindal Steel remained top loser for the second consecutive session today, which lost more than 4% after losing 5% yesterday.

Among other metals and mining stocks, Tata Steel tanked 2% and Sterlite Industries plunged 3.6%. Hindalco Industries was down 1.7% and Coal India declined 1%.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries lost 0.4% while auto stocks like Bajaj Auto and Tata Motors dropped 1% each.

The broader markets went down 0.5% each as decliners outnumbered advancers by 981 to 360 on the National Stock Exchange.