Mumbai, Aug 19: Indian equity benchmark closed flat on Monday amid pressure from heavyweights like M&M, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, and Bharti Airtel.

At closing, Sensex was at 80,424, down 12 points and Nifty ended at 24,572, up 31 points. The overall market trend remained positive.

On the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), 2,708 shares closed in the green, 1,321 in the red, and 136 without change.

During the session, buying was seen in the midcap and smallcap stocks. Nifty midcap 100 closed at 57,760, up 104 points or 0.18 per cent and Nifty smallcap 100 closed at 18,752, up 315 points or 1.71 per cent.

Among the sectoral indices, IT, PSU Bank, pharma, metal, realty, and energy index were major gainers. Auto, fin service and Pvt Bank were major losers.

According to market experts, the Indian market failed to catch up with the initial gains as there is a degree of profit booking witnessed in auto stocks due to a slowdown in demand.

"However, oil stocks gained momentum with the reduction in windfall tax on crude oil," an expert said.

In the Sensex pack, Tata Steel, TCS, NTPC, JSW Steel, Asian Paints, Reliance, Titan, Wipro, Power Grid, Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Finance, and HCL Tech were top gainers.

M&M, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, and Bharti Airtel were the top losers.

Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst of LKP Securities, said: "The Nifty remained range-bound throughout the day, appearing to pause before the next rally. The index closed above the recent consolidation for the second consecutive day."

"The trend likely favours the bulls as long as it stays above 24,300. On the higher end, the Nifty might move higher, with resistances placed at 24,750-24,800," he added.

Gold traded positive in MCX with gains of Rs 170 at Rs 71,550 per 10 grams.

--IANS
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