The Indian equity indices witnessed a volatile trade session on Monday and closed on a flat-to-positive note as healthy quarterly results drove investors' sentiments.
According to market observers, healthy buying was witnessed in healthcare, IT and auto stocks.
However, global cues, profit booking and upcoming derivatives expiry arrested the upward movement of the key indices.
Index-wise, the wider Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed higher by 20.65 points or 0.20 per cent at 10,584.70 points.
The barometer 30-scrip Sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 34,493.69 points, closed at 34,450.77 points -- up 35.19 points or 0.10 per cent -- from its previous session's close.
The Sensex touched a high of 34,663.95 points and a low of 34,259.27 during the intra-day trade.
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The BSE market breadth was tilted towards the bulls with 1,384 advances and 1,304 declines.
In the broader market segment, the S&P BSE mid-cap index closed higher by 0.49 per cent and the small-cap index inched up by 0.53 per cent.
"It has been a volatile day on the bourses as markets have not been able to hold on to gains, while bears have been unsuccessful in putting a lid on positive sentiment. Benchmark indices opened lower on negative global clues but recovered as the session progressed," said Abhijeet Dey, Senior Fund Manager-Equities, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund.
"However, unable to hold onto larger gains, both the benchmarks -- Sensex and the Nifty -- finally closed the day near the flat line."
HDFC Securities' Retail Research Head Deepak Jasani said: "Markets ended with modest gains on Monday after a sell-off from the highs curbed the gains. Selling emerged from the highs of 10,638 points (on Nifty50).
"Trading was volatile ahead of derivative expiry this week," Jasani told IANS.
On the currency front, the Indian rupee weakened by 35 paise on Monday to 66.48 against the US dollar from its previous close at 66.13.
In terms of investments, provisional data with the exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors sold scrip worth Rs 259.08 crore, while the domestic institutional investors purchased stocks worth Rs 387.26 crore.
Sector-wise, the S&P BSE healthcare index rose by 178.18 points, followed by IT which gained 89.92 points and auto stocks which edged up by 83.33 points.
On the other hand, the S&P BSE metal index fell by 133.04 points, FMCG index by 47.57 points and basic materials index by 7.92 points.
In another major market development, IT bellwether Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Monday emerged as the first Indian listed company to cross the $100-billion mark in terms of market capitalisation (m-cap).
On closing basis, however, the company's m-cap stood at Rs 653,767.50 crore or $99.05 billion on the BSE. Share price of the company settled at Rs 3,415.20 each, up 0.26 per cent from the previous close.
The major Sensex gainers on Monday were IndusInd Bank, up 3.40 per cent at Rs 1,875.60; Mahindra and Mahindra, up 2.74 per cent at Rs 822.50; Sun Pharma, up 1.74 per cent at Rs 514.20; Asian Paints, up 1.68 per cent at Rs 1,178.60; and Yes Bank, up 1.49 per cent at Rs 313.05 per share.
The top losers on Sensex were HDFC Bank, down 1.42 per cent at Rs 1,933.05; Tata Motors (DVR), down 1.15 per cent at Rs 188.75; Coal India, down 0.98 per cent at Rs 289.20; Hindustan Unilever, down 0.97 per cent at Rs 1,451.25; and ICICI Bank, down 0.85 per cent at Rs 279.55 per share.
--IANS
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