MUMBAI: Indian markets ended on a flat-to-negative note Wednesday, even as the railway budget was presented. Trade was choppy ahead of expiry of February F&O series Thursday and caution ahead of Union Budget on Friday.

Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee’s budget left train fares and freight rates unchanged. In fact, the minister cut freight rates on wheat and kerosene. Railway related stocks that had run-up ahead of the budget continued to fall while shares of container manufacturing companies along with agro companies showed upward movement.

Texmaco fell to Rs 143.10, down 4.41 per cent or Rs 6.60 on the NSE. It touched a low of Rs 136.75 and high of Rs 154.70. Titagarh Wagons declined to Rs 373, down Rs 31.75 or 7.84 per cent on the NSE. It touched a low of Rs 372 and high of Rs 418.80. KRBL moved to Rs 25.95, up 9.49 per cent, Rei Agro advanced 4.2 per cent to Rs 52.15 and Kohinoor Foods gained 0.86 per cent to Rs 52.70.

“The Railway Budget 2010-2011 was a non-event from the markets perspective, though it was overall positive in its intent and future direction. The budget was devoid of any major populist measures and focused on developing and improving the railway infrastructure.

The budget announced its intent to release the 10-year ‘Vision 2020’ document to further widen and strengthen the infrastructure. Another key positive spelled out in the budget was emphasis on inviting domestic investments through Public-Private-Partnership, which will provide opportunities to the private sector.

Further, to strengthen Railway Freight, the budget plans a new policy to set up private freight terminals and multi-modal logistics and mega logistics hubs, which would be beneficiary to rail container operators. Status quo was maintained from the industry’s (steel, cement, coal etc.) perspective, as the freight tariffs were left unchanged. Thus, overall the budget can be summed up as a positive one,” said Dinesh Thakkar CMD, Angel Broking.

After opening lower in line with other peers, indices moved in a narrow range on low volumes ahead of February F&O series expiry. Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex ended at 16,255.97, down 30.35 points or 0.19 per cent. It touched a low of 16187.44 and touched a high of 16328.44. National Stock Exchange’s Nifty closed at 4858.60, down 11.45 points or 0.24 per cent. It touched a low of 4834.65 and high of 4880.55. BSE Midcap Index was down 0.41 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index moved 0.61 per cent lower.

Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Realty Index gained 0.93 per cent and BSE IT Index moved up 0.03 per cent. BSE Healthcare Index fell 0.64 per cent, BSE Auto Index fell 0.43 per cent and BSE Bankex slipped 0.18 per cent.

Biggest Nifty gainers were Maruti Suzuki (3.68%), Idea Cellular (2.74%), Unitech (2.45%), NTPC (1.17%) and Ranbaxy Laboratories (1.08%)

Losers comprised Sun Pharmaceuticals (-2.82%), Tata Motors (-2.39%), Reliance Communications (-2.33%), Mahindra & Mahindra (-2.19%) and Cipla (-1.98%).

Market breadth on BSE remained negative with 1,851 declines against 948 advances.