New Delhi: Markets ended flat on Wednesday, falling consecutively for the third day after a choppy session, as buying activity was seen only in selective indices. The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex made some gains near closing as European markets opened positive.

Investor sentiments also arose as commerce minister Kamal Nath is expected to announce an export stimulus package, which would address their trade concerns caused by global economic slump. The sops under consideration include simplification of rules for service tax refund, extension of time given to exporters to meet export obligation and an increase in rates of input duty.

Realty index recovered gaining more than 3%, along with oil and gas, power, PSU, metal and auto stocks also on the buyer’s ride. Banking stocks remain under pressure on the back of global financial worries, also country’s fiscal deficit continued to nag.

Sensex opened lower today on negative global cues but soon gained grounds only to plunge in choppy session later. The 30-share BSE index ended 19.82 points or 0.2% down at 9,015.18 and 50-share NSE Nifty closed at 2776.15, a mere 5.65 points up.

Negativity persisted as Reserve Bank’s governor D Subbarao at a conference in Tokyo said: “There certainly is room for cutting rates. The question is whether we should cut rates, when we should cut rates and by how much we should cut rates.” He made it clear that India was not immune to global downfall and is significantly affected.

Top loser on the BSE pack was Housing Development and Finance Corp. by 4.76% to Rs1,364.30, followed by Mahindra and Mahindra by 4.74% to Rs284.55, ICICI Bank Ltd by 4.29% to Rs369.35, Reliance Infra by 3.41% to Rs501.20 and State Bank of India by 2.69% to Rs1,070.80.

Among those that made gains DLF Ltd led the rally by 7.34% to Rs158.70, Maruti Suzuki by 4.39 % to Rs624.80, ACC Ltd by 3.19% to Rs562.90, Reliance Industries by 2.14% to Rs1,294.75 and NTPC by 1.38% to Rs176.40.