Nifty ends flat with negative bias on Wednesday

Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty ended flat with a negative bias on Wednesday as renewed escalation between US-Iran after US carried out ‘self-defence strikes’ against Iran in response to the downing of a US helicopter by Iranian forces. After a flat-to-negative start, the index soon gained traction and traded higher for most of the session as sentiments were upbeat with SBI research report stating that the Reserve Bank's recent measures likely to help India attract $55-65 billion in inflows in the current fiscal, stabilise the rupee, and push the country's balance of payments into surplus. Further, there was encouragement in market as private report said that the government plans to push ahead with reforms, including further measures to boost foreign investment, speeding up divestment and asset monetisation, as it seeks to preserve India's growth momentum in the face of rising fuel and fertiliser import costs triggered by the West Asia crisis. However, in last leg of the session, Nifty erased all its gains on account of profit booking and ended marginally lower, down 0.12%.