After opening higher at 17,145.29, Sensex touched a intra-day low of 17,022.09. Better-than-expected ICICI Bank results spurred late buying helping the benchmark helped recoup losses and finally end the day at 17,134.25, a mere gain of 3.58 points over its previous close.
Brokers said banking stocks led initial gains on the bourses following the Cabinet clearing the much-awaited Banking Law (Amendment) Bill that proposes to raise the voting rights cap in private sector banks to 26 per cent.
ICICI Bank notched up a handsome gain of 2.28 per cent. Another private sector lender HDFC bank also ended the day higher 0.18 per cent.
Among the Sensex stocks, Hindalco (2.15 per cent), Gail (1.53 per cent) and Infosys (1.36 per cent) were the other notable gainers.
"The markets had opened on a positive note moved sideways during the morning session till noon but in the second part of the day, we saw markets slipping into red and moved sideways to finally close for the day on a flat note...ICICI Bank gave a booster to the banking stocks," said Geojit BNP Paribas, Head Research, Alex Mathews.
The NSE 50-share Nifty also inched up by 1.60 points or 0.03 per cent to finish at 5,190.60.
The stock exchanges are holding a special 1-1/2-hour trading session tomorrow, April 28, as the National Stock Exchange (NSE) is upgrading the capacity of its futures and options (F&O) trading system hardware and software to improve processing capability and handle increased activities in the market. Trading will start at 11.15 am and end at 12.45 pm. (MORE) PTI RSU SBP SUM KSR NS