Sensex falls 80 points to slip below 36,650, Nifty ends flat

New Delhi: Markets ended flat to negative on Thursday in a rangebound trade led by losses in the banking and financial stocks.

The BSE Sensex dropped 80.32 percent or 0.22 percent to 36,644.42 while the NSE Nifty rose 3.25  points to 10,847.90.

Major losers in the Sensex pack were HDFC, ICICI Bank, TCS, HCL, Kotak Bank, Asian Paint, Tech Mahindra, HUL, IndusInd Bank, SBI, HDFC Bank and RIL, falling upto 2.67 percent.

Auto shares were the major gainers in the Sensex pack after Minister of MSME and Road, Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari's speech at 59th SIAM Annual Convention infused fresh leash of life for the sagging auto sector.

Gadkari said that the long pressed issue for reducing GST on petrol and diesel vehicles will be taken up with finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman. He also said that government will award construction work worth Rs 5 lakh crore to boost the auto sector.

Shares of Tata Motors, ONGC, Yes Bank, NTPC, Maruti, M&M, Vedanta, Tata Steel, Bajaj Auto, Infosys, Heromoto Corp and Bajaj Finance rose upto 7.81 percent.

In the previous session on Wednesday, the BSE Sensex jumped 161.83 points or 0.44 percent to 36,724.74 while the NSE Nifty closed higher by 46.75 percent or 0.4 points to 10,844.65.