US Bulls fail to inspire, markets close flat

After many weeks of roller-coaster, the markets remained flat with a single point gain on the Sensex as well as the Nifty. But they remain at their low, to be precise still down 12% from the levels of pre-US attack. The spurt in world stock markets, the US fed rate cut accompanied by a spate of good news from US IT giants, FIIs equity purchases worth Rs 180 crore did enough to prop up the sentiment in - technology, automobiles and pharmaceutical stocks. While the cash market struggles to breach the 3000-mark, the derivatives segment has witnessed major activity since September 11. While the index futures were introduced in July 2000, the options trading commenced in July this year, following the ban on Badla. Initially, the new product faced strong resentment amongst traders and lack of trading interest resulted in a dip in volumes in ca