Benchmarks held their ground in see-saw trade today as participants largely stayed on the sidelines ahead of the corporate earnings season amid lacklustre overseas cues.
Global markets were thrown into a fresh round of uncertainty after US President Donald Trump ramped up his trade war rhetoric with China, seeking USD 100 billion in additional tariffs on Chinese imports.
The 30-share Sensex, moving in a tight range for the better part of the session on scattered deals, hit a low of 33,501.37 and a high of 33,697.51 before finishing at 33,626.97 points, up 30.17 points or 0.09 per cent.
The gauge had soared almost 578 points in the previous session after the RBI kept the policy rate unchanged but said growth will rebound this fiscal amid softening inflation.
The broader NSE Nifty inched up 6.45 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 10,331.60. Intra-day, it shuttled between 10,290.85 and 10,350.45.
On a weekly basis, the BSE Sensex scored a smart gain of 658.29 points, or 1.99 per cent while the NSE Nifty rose 217.90 points, or 2.15 per cent.
More From This Section
Meanwhile, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities to the tune of Rs 615.28 crore yesterday, while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) net sold shares worth Rs 108.02 crore, according to provisional data.
"Market was range bound as investors are still nervous about global trade tensions while better domestic triggers are providing support.
"Focus has shifted to earnings growth which is at an early stage of revival. Any scope of upgrade will subside volatility due to global headwinds. PSU banks and pharma stocks outperformed due to gradual accumulation and US FDA approvals," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.
In the Sensex pack, ICICI Bank emerged as the top gainer by rising 0.97 per cent, while Tata Steel advanced 0.92 per cent.
Maruti Suzuki, Adani Ports, Sun Pharma, HDFC Bank, Dr Reddy's, SBI, Yes Bank, ITC, RIL, NTPC, HDFC Ltd, Power Grid and Tata Motors finished with modest gains.
Bharti Airtel hit a bump, falling the most by 2.17 per cent, while Infosys lost 1.31 per cent.
Other losers were L&T, Bajaj Auto, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, HUL, Wipro, Coal India, TCS, M&M, ONGC, Asian Paints and Hero MotoCorp.
Stocks of state-run oil marketing companies such as BPCL, HPCL and IOC were in better shape largely on the back of lower global crude oil prices and gained up to 2.87 per cent.
Brent oil in global market was quoting at USD 68 per barrel.
Sectorally, the BSE healthcare index spurted 0.94 per cent, followed by oil & gas, PSU, consumer durables, banking, realty, FMCG, power, auto and infrastructure.
In the broader markets, the mid-cap and small-cap indices ended with gains of 0.65 per cent and 0.61 per cent, respectively.
In the Asian region, Japan's Nikkei ended 0.36 per cent down, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.11 per cent.
In Europe, Frankfurt's DAX fell 0.65 per cent and Paris CAC shed 0.51 per cent in their late morning session. London's FTSE declined 0.20 per cent.