Banking sector aides markets to close on flat-to-positive note (Roundup)

Mumbai, Oct 25 (IANS) Healthy quarterly results along with value buying in the PSU banks led the Indian equity markets to close on a flat-to-positive note on Friday.However, volatility capped the market's northward trajectory.Both the key indices -- the S&P BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty50 -- inched up by around 0.10 per cent.Index-wise, the S&P BSE Sensex closed at 39,058.06, higher by 37.67 points, or 0.10 per cent, than its previous close of 39,020.39 points. It touched an intra-day high of 39,241.61 and a low of 38,718.27 points.The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also inched up and ended the day's trade at 11,583.90, up by just 1.30 points, or 0.01 per cent, than its previous close.Broader market indices like the BSE mid-cap index lost more, thereby underperforming the Sensex. Market breadth was negative on both BSE and NSE.According to Siddhartha Khemka, Head-Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Private, "Market witnessed volatility today but ended almost flat for third day in a row. Majority of sectors closed positively, led by PSU banks index which rallied post strong results declared by SBI. ICICI Bank too gained on the back of expectation of good results on Saturday."
--IANS rv/arm