Markets ended flat amid a range bound trading session on Monday as investors booked profits in index heavyweights and shifted focus to the broader markets.The Sensex ended higher by 17 points or 0.1 per cent at 17,767 and the 50-share Nifty advanced 5 points or 0.1 per cent to close at 5,363 levels. The Nifty traded in a range of 25 points and the Sensex traded in a range of 80 points.
The BSE Mid-cap index ended up 0.3 per cent while the Small-cap index gained 0.7 per cent to end at 6,542.
Meanwhile, the European markets were also trading on a flat note as investors cashed in some of last week's sharp gains ahead of a German ruling on the euro zone's new bailout fund, Dutch elections and potential new stimulus from the U.S. Federal Reserve. The CAC 40 index was up 5 points at 3,524, DAX advanced 8 points to 7,222 and the FTSE 100 was down 2 points at 5,793.
The Asian markets also ended on a lacklustre note after weak U.S. jobs data and soft Chinese data weighed on the investor sentiment. The Hang Seng advanced 25 points to 19,827, Shanghai Composite advanced 7 points to 2,135 and the Nikkei slipped 2 points to close at 8,869.
Back home, Sun Pharma was the top gainer among the Sensex stocks. The stock advanced 2.6 per cent to Rs 684. Bharti Airtel ended up 2.3 per cent on reports that the company's mobile tower arm Bharti Infratel is planning an initial public offering to raise Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion).
Coal India, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, HDFC, Hindalco, Hero MotoCorp, Gail India, Infosys and Larsen & Toubro were also among the gainers from the heavyweight space.
On the other hand, Jindal Steel was the top Sensex loser. The stock slipped 2.2 per cent to Rs 345 ahead of the Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) report on coal block allocation.
"The IMG on coal block allocation will submit its report to Coal Ministry of India on Monday as its three-day review of 29