Investor anxiety prevailed ahead of a crucial meeting of Eurozone leaders on Greece bailout which led a barometer index of Indian equity markets to close flat on Tuesday.
The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) closed flat -- some 37 points or 0.13 percent down in the day's trade.
The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also closed in the negative terrain on Tuesday -- 11.35 points or 0.13 percent down at 8,510.80 points.
The 30-scrip S&P BSE Sensex, which opened at 28,220.11 points, closed at 28,171.69 points, down 37.07 points or 0.13 percent from its previous day's close at 28,208.76 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 28,335.23 points and a low of 28,084.36 points in the intra-day trade.
Analysts tracking the day's trade said that after a sustained uptrend, the domestic markets on Tuesday entered into a consolidation phase.
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Analysts cautioned that the market consolidation phase may continue for one or two days due to international volatility and after that the market movements may be based on the quarterly numbers.
The first major result to come out will be of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on July 9.
"Even as global equity markets remained feverish ahead of European summit, Indian markets remained resilient, as investors tried to cash in on the dips ahead of first quarter (Q1) results announcement," said Anand James, co-head technical research desk, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.
According to James, positive expectations surrounding good Q1 numbers have been strong enough to not allow Chinese market collapse to affect sentiments.
"Incidentally, FIIs (foreign institutional investors) have been net buyers in cash market in the last four days, suggesting that sustained sell-off in Chinese markets has not made Indian markets less attractive," James said.
The FIIs were net buyers in the cash market segment on Monday, they bought shares worth Rs.149.37 crore.
"Market shut the day on a flat note to wait for the outcome of Eurozone leaders meet on Greece bailout which is scheduled late today," said Gaurav Jain, director with Hem Securities.
Greece through Sunday's referendum rejected the new terms for a bailout package.
"Sharp fall in crude prices has helped Indian benchmarks to open on a strong note as the country is a net importer of crude," Jain added.
During Tuesday's intra-day trade, healthy buying took place in consumer durables, healthcare and capital goods sectors.
However, automobile, information technology (IT), bank, oil and gas and technology, entertainment and media (TECK) stocks came under intense selling pressure.
The S&P BSE consumer durables index augmented by 75.54 points, healthcare index rose by 47.84 points and capital goods index edged-higher by 15.54 points.
The S&P BSE automobile index plunged by 56.62 points, followed by IT index which receded by 39.73 points, bank index was lower by 39.09 points, oil and gas index fell by 24.02 points and TECK index declined by 28.93 points.
The major Sensex gainers in Tuesday's trade were: Coal India, up 2.06 percent at Rs.428.60; HDFC, up 1.47 points at Rs.1,337.35; State Bank of India (SBI), up 0.66 percent at Rs.272.70; Wipro, up 0.66 percent at Rs.553.45; and Sun Pharma, up 0.63 percent at Rs.884.45.
The major Sensex losers were: Vedanta, down 2.76 percent at Rs.158.55; NTPC, down 2.61 percent at Rs.134.35; Hero MotoCorp, down 1.91 percent at Rs.2,562.50; Hindalco Inds, down 1.65 percent at Rs.107.25; and Reliance Industries, down 1.17 percent at Rs.1,003.40.
Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei gained by 1.31 percent, however, China's Shanghai Composite Index went down by 1.26 percent, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng receded by 1.03 percent.
In Europe, the London FTSE 100 index was down by 0.24 percent, the French CAC 40 was lower by 0.87 percent and Germany's DAX Index receded by 0.77 percent at the closing bell here.