Trading started on a strong note with good buying witnessed in frontline heavy-weights. Global buoyancy and strengthening rupee aided the uptrend.
The key index gained momentum on sustained buying support and touched day's high in early morning trade. It, however, failed to move further and met with heavy resistance amid profit-taking in technology and FMCG counters.
The range-bound market gave away entire gains in late afternoon session and slipped into the red for a brief period before regaining strength to end marginally higher.
Bank, oil & gas, metal, auto and pharma counters witnessed firm buying activity.
On the global side, Asian markets scaled to multi- month highs on renewed speculation over central bank policy measures and stimulus hopes after a string of negative economic data. European counterparts, too, rallied on further policy actions.
The 50-share Nifty oscillated between a high of 5,317 and a low of 5,265.95 before concluding at 5,287.95, a modest gain of 9.35 point, or 0.18 per cent, over the last close.
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DLF, Bharti Airtel, Hindalco, PNB, HDFC, Gail, BPCL, Sesa Goa, Coal India and Dr Reddy's were the top gainers from the Nifty pack. BHEL, Jindal Steel, TCS, Grasim, ACC, ITC, HUL, Hero MotoCorp, Power Grid and Sun Pharma slipped.
The turnover in cash segment rose to Rs 10,363.91 crore against Rs 9,738.67 crore yesterday. In all, 7,509.45 lakh shares changed hands in 56,95,733 trades. Market capitalisation stood at Rs 60,83,655 crore.