FINAL TRADE: Equity indices end flat; Nifty settles at 25,280

After opening on a weak note, Indian equities continued to trade in the red and ended lower with a mild crack. At the close, Sensex ended lower by a minor 0.01 per cent or 4.4 points at 82,555.44 levels, while the Nifty50 index ended 25,279.85, up 1.15 points.

Sectorally, the gains in the consumer durables and financial services stocks were offset by losses in the metal, realty and oil & gas stocks.

From the Nifty pack, shares of SBI Life, HDFC Life, ICICI Bank, Shriram Finance and Bajaj Finserv, while the top losers were ONGC, Infosys, Bajaj Finance, JSW Steel and Adani Ports.

As defence stocks looked for approval of projects worth over Rs 1 lakh crore by the Defence ministry, the stocks ended shaply higher.

European stocks, meanwhile, traded lower with the FTSE index down over 0.5 per cent as investors focus shifted to the key US data due to be released later this week.