Markets close on a flat note; Pharma stocks outperform

Markets witnessed a lacklustre day of trade with the benchmark index Nifty closed on a flat note as the option writers took a centre stage on the weekly options expiry trade.

Bank Nifty underperformed the Nifty index by 0.3%, closing marginally lower.

Nifty Pharma closed higher with a gains of 0.8% as stocks like Lupin, Sun Pharma & Auro Pharma traded with a positive bias.

Midcap 100 index closed higher, up 0.5%. Market breadth ended in the favour of the declines with the advance/decline ratio closing at 1:1x. Nifty index saw an addition of long positions during the day.

On the options front (January 14, 2020 expiry), across the board option writing was seen in put option strikes as Nifty trended higher. India Vix index closed at 23.2, down ~0.3%.