Investors were anxious on the eve of parliament's monsoon session and the ongoing quarterly results season which dented sentiments and led a barometer index to close in the red on Monday.
The barometer 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) closed flat -- just 43.19 points or 0.15 percent down -- during the day's trade session.
The index went down by over 140 points during the intra-day trade on the back of worries surrounding the monsoon progress, a likely troubled parliament session, and the upcoming monetary policy review.
The upcoming futures and options (F&O) expiry on July 30 also unnerved the investors.
The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) too was volatile during the day's trade, however it closed flat. It was down 6.40 points or 0.07 percent at 8,603.45 points.
The Sensex of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 28,544.28 points, closed at 28,420.12 points, down 43.19 points or 0.15 percent from the previous day's close at 28,463.31 points.
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The Sensex touched a high of 28,549.13 points and a low of 28,319.83 points in the intra-day trade.
"The markets reeled under anxiety about the progress of monsoon, the parliament session which will have key bills like Goods and Services Tax (GST) and land bill coming up for discussion," Anand James, co-head, technical research, Geojit BNP Paribas, told IANS.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the monsoon so far has been six percent below its long-term average. However, the IMD has given an optimistic forecast for a better performance during early August.
Monsoon rains are important for agriculture, which is a major sector of the Indian economy.
As a large part of the arable land is rain-fed, not only does a variation in rainfall affects crop production but also rural incomes and inflation.
Even the upcoming monetary policy review, which will decide any cut in key lending rates, will be based on the progress of the monsoon and prevailing data points, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said.
James added: "On the other hand, OPEC's (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) decision to advance its December meeting to discuss the future of oil prices in the backdrop of Iran increasing its exports after the nuclear deal is also causing concern."
However, till now the global oil prices have been in India's favour with West Texas Intermediate (WTI) pegging a barrel of crude oil at $49.50 and the Brent index hovering around $57 per barrel.
India is a major net-importer of crude oil with over 70 percent of its needs met by shipping in the black gold.
Gaurav Jain, director with Hem Securities, said that the markets after a flat opening witnessed a sharp slide but recovered during the late trade with Nifty reclaiming the 8,600 level.
"Investors seem to await the outcome of parliaments' monsoon session and India Inc.'s corporate earnings. Corporate earnings of HDFC Bank, Infosys, Hindustan Unilever etc., are scheduled for tomorrow," Jain said.
During Monday's trade, bank, metal, realty, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and power closed in the red.
However, the S&P BSE oil and gas, healthcare and consumer durables stocks rose in the day's trade.
The S&P BSE bank index receded by 72.64 points, the metal index declined by 45.62 points, realty index decreased by 27.13 points, FMCG index was lower by 11.69 points and the power index fell by 7.14 points.
The S&P BSE oil and gas index increased by 54.69 points, healthcare index was higher by 45.28 points and the consumer durables index gained by 31.29 points.
Major Sensex gainers during Monday's trade were: Hindalco Inds, up 1.91 percent at Rs.109.45; Dr Reddy's Lab, up 1.19 percent at Rs.3,926.15; Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M), up 1.14 percent at Rs.1,313.05; Bharti Airtel, up 0.85 percent at Rs.429.45; and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), up 0.79 percent at Rs.2.579.55.
The major Sensex losers were: Tata Motors, down 1.89 percent at Rs.391.20; Vedanta, down 1.44 percent at Rs.143.40, State Bank of India (SBI), down 1.37 percent at Rs.267.35, Hindustan Unilever, down 1.25 percent at Rs.912.80 and BHEL, down 1.03 percent at Rs.282.45.
Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei was up by 0.25 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index rose by 0.91 percent. However, Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost by 0.04 percent.
In Europe, the London FTSE 100 index was up by 0.25 percent, while the French CAC 40 was higher by 0.75 percent. The Germany's DAX Index gained by 0.86 percent at the closing bell here.