By ASHUTOSH JOSHI

MUMBAI--Indian shares ended flat Thursday as profit-taking in some front-line stocks before the start of the corporate earnings season offset strong gains in Oil & Natural Gas (500312.BY) Corp. and Tata Motors (500570.BY) .

The Bombay Stock Exchange's benchmark Sensitive Index ended down by 3.04 points, or 0.02%, at 19,663.55. On the National Stock Exchange, the 50-share Nifty index closed at 5,968.65, down 2.85 points, or 0.1%.

Trading volume in the BSE's cash market rose to 29.44 billion rupees ($538.74 million) from Wednesday's 25.14 billion rupees.

India's main stock indexes have given away their early-session gains to end lower or flat in most of the days this week as traders avoided fresh positions before local companies start reporting financial results for the October-December period, or the fiscal third quarter.

"Volatility is likely to continue and the market may also witness profit-booking on rallies," Nidhi Sarswat, a senior research analyst with Bonanza Portfolio, said in a note.

She expects the Nifty index to see strong resistance at 6,050-6,100, levels from where the index has seen sharp falls in the past.

Software exporter Infosys (500209.BY) will report its financial results Friday to kick start the earnings season. The company is likely to post a 7% fall in net profit from a year earlier to 22.10 billion rupees, according to the average of forecasts in a poll of 19 analysts.

Infosys fell 0.3% to end at 2,320.35 rupees, while rivals Tata Consultancy dropped 1.4% to 1,258.55 rupees and Wipro shed 0.5% to 395.40 rupees.

Mortgage lender Housing Development Finance declined 0.7% to end at 825.30 rupees.

State-run energy explorer Oil & Natural Gas was the top gainer among Sensex stocks, rising 3.1% to 301.90 rupees.

The stock has been gaining since news reports said the government was considering a proposal to increase diesel prices. Higher diesel prices will help Oil & Natural Gas, which is required to give discounts on crude oil sales to state-run fuel retailers to partly offset their losses from selling products at state-run discounted prices.

Tata Motors extended its Wednesday's rally and was up 2.1% at 333.40 rupees. Some global brokerage firms including Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX) have upgraded the stock this week due to strong worldwide vehicle sales at the company's U.K.-based Jaguar Land Rover unit.

Engineers India, which is not part of the benchmark index, fell 4.1% to 228.90 rupees, after the cabinet approved a government plan to sell a 10% stake in the state-run company. The move is part of the government's disinvestment program aimed at boosting revenue that is necessary to reduce a gaping fiscal deficit.

The government currently owns 80.40% of the company and will likely raise 7.71 billion rupees from the planned stake sale at Thursday's closing price.