BENGALURU, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Indian shares traded flat on Monday, as gains in metals' stocks offset drags among banking, energy and pharma sectors.
By 0526 GMT, the blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index was down 0.02% at 16,525.50 and the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.04% to 55,457.98.
The Nifty energy index fell as much as 0.38%. Shares of India's top explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp slipped 0.34% even as the company reported a 772% jump in quarterly profit last week.
"While ONGC's results were good, this was because crude (prices) had gone up. It is not a cash-rich company, there is no dividend because debt is so high," said AK Prabhakar, head of research at IDBI Capital, Mumbai.
"Also, what is the growth going forward? Everyone wants to move towards fossil-free, solar and other forms of energy."
The Nifty Metal index added 0.67%.
Tata Steel touched a 52-week high after it reported a consolidated net profit of 97.68 billion rupees ($1.32 billion) in the June quarter, compared with a loss of 46.48 billion rupees a year ago. Brokerages also raised their target prices on the steelmaker's expectation of better realisations in both India and Europe.
SpiceJet dropped as much as 16.7% after the company reported a wider quarterly net loss of 7.29 billion rupees.
Among market debutants, Devyani International rose 40% at 124.35 rupees after opening at 140.9 rupees, while Krsnaa Diagnostics, Windlas Biotech and Exxaro Tiles climbed between 5.6% and 11.7%.
In broader Asian markets, equities made a cautious start to the week after a raft of Chinese data showed a surprisingly sharp slowdown. ($1 = 74.2660 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Vishwadha Chander in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)
