The market sentiment was weighed down by the ongoing spectrum auction, two-day bank strike, worries over macro- economic concerns and FII selling as investors adopted a cautious approach.
Value buying in pharma, energy, auto and realty shares helped the market to restrict losses.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 267.26 crores on last Friday. As per the provisional data of Stock Exchanges.
However, gains by DLF (up 2.94%), Sun Pharma 1.66 per cent and Maruti 1.44 per cent prevented the 50-share Nifty from ending deep in the red amidst choppiness.
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Shares of mid-cap firms witnessed profit booking, while small-cap companies gained.
The Nifty hovered between a high of 6,083.05 and a low of 6,046.40 before settling at 6,053.45, down 9.75 points, or 0.16 per cent, from its previous close.
Major losers were JP Associates, HDFC, HUL, Kotak Bank, GAIL, NTPC, Cipla and SBIN. The gainers included Grasim, Dr Reddy's, HCL Tech, L&T, IDFC, Grasim, ONGC and Tata Motors.