Sensex ends flat on first trading day of 2008

Sensex ends flat on the first trading session of 2008 as gains in the initial hours have been eroded by profit booking later.

Stock market benchmark Sensex on Tuesday ended flat on the first trading session of 2008 as gains in the initial hours were eroded by profit booking later.

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The Sensex commenced the day slightly higher and rose more than 100 points in the first five minutes of trading. It touched the day's high of 20,394.89 and low of 20,220.46 in alternate bouts of trading. Profit booking by investors reduced the day's gain to 13.72 points at 20,300.71 points.

The National Stock Exchange index Nifty was also almost unchanged, rising a mere 5.75 points to 6,144.35 points.

Major support to the Sensex came in from realty stocks as the segment index gained by 310.47 points at 13,037.89 points. Power, banks and PSU scrips also rose.