Key equity indices ended almost flat as investors booked profits after recent upmove amid mixed global cues. Selling in index heavyweights like ICICI Bank and Reliance Industries restricted gains in key benchmarks.

The Sensex rose 2.72 points or 0.01% to settle at 37,754.89. The index rose 155.61 points, or 0.41% at the day's high of 37,907.78. The index fell 58.48 points, or 0.15% at the day's low of 37,693.69.

The Nifty 50 index rose 1.55 points or 0.01% to settle at 11,343.25. The index rose 41.75 points, or 0.37% at the day's high of 11,383.45. The index fell 27.95 points, or 0.25% at the day's low of 11,313.75.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.26%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.09%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On the BSE, 1236 shares rose and 1480 shares fell. A total of 145 shares were unchanged.

Among the sectoral indices on BSE, the S&P BSE IT index (down 0.42%), the S&P BSE Auto index (down 0.41%) and the S&P BSE Power index (down 0.27%), underperformed the Sensex. The S&P BSE Realty index (up 2.09%), the S&P BSE Healthcare index (up 0.81%) and the S&P BSE Metal index (up 0.62%), outperformed the Sensex.

NTPC (up 3.53%), IndusInd Bank (up 2.84%), Yes Bank (up 2.25%), Coal India (up 2.03%), ONGC (up 1.70%), Bharti Airtel (up 1.63%), Vedanta (up 0.96%) and Tata Steel (up 0.82%), were the major Sensex gainers.

Power Grid Corporation of India (down 3.65%), HCL Technologies (down 2.11%), Hero MotoCorp (down 1.81%), Tata Motors (down 1.05%), Bajaj Finance (down 0.62%) and State Bank of India (down 0.51%), were the major Sensex losers.

ICICI Bank fell 1.01% to Rs 387.90. The stock hit a record high of Rs 393.15 yesterday, 13 March 2019.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) fell 0.41% at Rs 1,341.20. The stock hit a record high of Rs 1,361.45 in intraday today, 14 March 2019.

The resolution plan jointly submitted by RIL and JM Financial Asset Reconstruction Company (JMFARC) for acquisition of Alok Industries (AIL) under the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016, has been approved by the National Company Law Tribunal, Bench at Ahmedabad (NCLT) by order dated 8 March 2019, subject to certain conditions. The NCLT order is being reviewed for implementation of the Resolution Plan in terms of the NCLT order. The implementation of Resolution Plan is subject to obtaining necessary regulatory approvals, including approval from the Competition Commission of India. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 13 March 2019.

TCS shed 0.63%. TCS announced that it is developing solutions to drive scaled adoption of blockchain across industries, using technologies from Microsoft and R3, a leading enterprise blockchain software firm. The announcement was made during market hours today, 14 March 2019.

Wipro shed 0.37%. Azim Premji, chairman of Azim Premji Foundation, announced after market hours yesterday, 13 March 2019, that he has increased his commitment to philanthropy, by irrevocably renouncing more of his personal assets and earmarking them to the endowment, which supports the foundation's philanthropic activities. He has done this by additionally earmarking all economic benefits for philanthropic purposes, in approximately 34% of the shares in Wipro (current market value Rs 52,750 crore/$7.5 billion), held by certain entities controlled by him. This action is in addition to his earlier donations to philanthropy, which included Wipro's shares, as well as other assets owned by him. With this action, the total value of the philanthropic endowment corpus contributed by Premji is Rs 1,45,000 crore ($21 billion), which includes 67% of economic ownership of Wipro.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries gained 2.41%. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries said that its wholly owned subsidiary has increased its shareholding in PJSC Biosintez, Russia, by purchasing 33,958 shares (30221 ordinary shares and 3737 preferred shares) equivalent to 11.86% of PJSC Biosintez under mandatory tender offer. Post completion of this purchase of shares, the total holding of wholly owned subsidiary company increased from 85.10% to 96.96% in PJSC Biosintez. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 13 March 2019.

Lupin rose 0.35%. Lupin has received a letter from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) classifying the inspection conducted at the company's Mandideep (Unit 1) facility in December 2018 as 'Official Action Indicated' (OAI). The USFDA has stated that this facility may be subject to regulatory or administrative action and that it may withhold approval of any pending applications or supplements in which this facility is listed.

There are no new drug master files (DMF) and Abbreviated New Drug Applications (ANDA) pending review or approval from the Mandideep (Unit 1) facility and the company does not believe that this classification will have an impact on disruption of supplies or the existing revenues from operations of this facility. The company is in the process of sending further updates of its corrective actions to the USFDA and remains hopeful of a positive outcome. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 13 March 2019.

Star Cement jumped 4.85%. Star Cement has received Rs 115.18 crore towards its freight subsidy claims from the Central Government and a further amount of Rs 42.55 crore is expected to be received within a week's time. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 13 March 2019.

On the macro front, the annual rate of inflation, based on monthly WPI, stood at 2.93% (provisional) for the month of February 2019 (over February 2018) as compared to 2.76% (provisional) for the previous month and 2.74% during the corresponding month of the previous year. Build up inflation rate in the financial year so far was 2.75% compared to a build up rate of 2.56% in the corresponding period of the previous year. The data was released during market hours today, 14 March 2019.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 69.34, compared with its close of 69.54 during the previous trading session.

In the global commodities markets, Brent for May 2019 settlement was up 3 cents at $67.58 a barrel. The contract rose 88 cents, or 1.32% to settle at $67.55 a barrel during the previous trading session.

Overseas, European shares rose Thursday after the British parliament voted to reject a disorderly Brexit. The UK Parliament on Wednesday voted against a no-deal Brexit, a day after lawmakers rejected Prime Minister Theresa May's revised Brexit deal in a 242-391 vote. On Thursday, they will decide on whether to request an extension to the March 29 deadline to reach a trade agreement with the European Union.

Asian stocks ended mixed. U.S. stocks closed higher Wednesday, as investors parsed economic data that included stronger-than-expected durable goods orders and further signs that inflation remains subdued.

The Commerce Department report also showed core capital orders, a key measure of business investment, rising 0.8% in January after falling sharply the two months previous.