Markets conclude the session in Red

Indian equity benchmarks ended a lackluster day of trade marginally in red on Thursday, despite strong trend seen in other Asian markets.

Key indices made optimistic start, as investors took some encouragement after India jumped 14 places to the 63rd position on the World Bank's ease of doing business ranking, riding high on the government's flagship Make in India scheme and other reforms attracting foreign investment.

Some support also came with the Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister Bibek Debroy's statement that India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is hovering around 5 percent is expected to inch up to 7 percent in the next financial year.

But markets quickly erased all gains and slipped into the red, as traders turned cautious with the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) statement that India is not likely to benefit from the US-China trade tensions largely owing to existing policy barriers to large-scale production, strict labour laws and difficult land-acquisition process.

The BSE Sensex ended at 39020.39, down by 38.44 points or 0.10%. There were 13 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.36%, while Small cap index was down by 0.16%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 1.35%, Realty up by 1.13%, Consumer Durables up by 0.52%, Healthcare up by 0.23% and Consumer Discretionary Goods & Services up by 0.12%, while PSU down by 2.24%, Power down by 1.18%, Bankex down by 1.17%, Telecom down by 0.94% and Utilities down by 0.87% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 3.31%, Reliance Industries up by 3.12%, HCL Tech. up by 2.09%, Asian Paints up by 1.38% and Tata Steel up by 1.05%.

On the flip side, Yes Bank was down by 5.76%, SBI down by 4.65%, Indusind Bank down by 3.78%, Infosys down by 2.36% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.55% among the top losers.