Sensex, Nifty Lose Early Gains, End Flat As Major Sub-indices Drop

Indian shares erased early gains to end nearly flat on Monday, dragged by losses in information technology and state-owned bank stocks, as a flagging economy kept investors cautious ahead of the central bank's monetary policy meeting later this week.

The NSE Nifty 50 index closed 0.07% lower at 12048.20 and the S&P BSE Sensex was little changed at 40802.17.

India's economy grew at its slowest pace since 2013 for the July-September period at 4.5%, which could prompt the Reserve Bank of India to cut its repo rate at its monetary policy meeting.

The Nifty IT index dropped most among sub-indexes at to nearly 1%, while the state-owned bank index fell 0.87% at close.

A fall in auto sales in November also pushed auto stocks lower, sending the Nifty auto index down 0.9%.

Bharti Airtel was the top gainer among stocks on the Nifty, closing up 3.65%, and Yes Bank was the biggest loser, dropping 6.22%.

(Reuters)