Equities continued to attract buying support for the fourth consecutive day today amid expectation of rate cut with the benchmark CNX Nifty gaining 17 points on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).
After a soft opening, market gradually picked up momentum, led by frontline stocks with the key index rallying to 6,200 levels, but turned choppy in late afternoon session on profit taking.
However, firm buying in bank, infra, energy, technology and realty counters alongwith FMCG major ITC's strong Q4 results helped the overall market sentiment to improve towards the fag-end even as selling in auto, metal and pharma related stocks capped the gains.
On the global front, most Asian stocks closed higher, though sentiment remained cautious following overnight fall in Wall Street amid concerns over an early US Federal Reserve exit from quantitative easing programme. European markets were steady in early trade.
The 50-share Nifty swung between a high of 6,199.95 and a low of 6,146.15 before settling at 6,187.30, a gain of 17.40, or 0.28 per cent, over its last close.
BHEL, Reliance Infra, JP Associates, DLF, NTPC, PNB, L&T, Ambuja Cement, Bank of Baroda and Kotak Bank were among the key gainers from the index bunch.
The notable losers included IndusInd Bank, HCL Tech, Dr Reddy, Bharti Airtel, NMDC, Sesa Goa, Maruti, Hindalco, Ranbaxy and Asian Paint.
Turnover in the cash segment declined to Rs 11,376.31 crore from Rs 12,696.84 crore yesterday. A total of 6,698.70 lakh shares changed hands in 55,248,38 trades. Market capitalisation stood at Rs 67,40,181 crore.
