Trading began on a weak note on the back of sluggish global cues and remained in a tight range in the morning session. The undertone was largely cautious in the absence of any trigger and ahead of tomorrow's July inflation data but stock-specific actions were seen in mid and small-cap spaces.
Buying picked up pace in late afternoon and the key index gradually moved into the positive zone. The momentum was maintained towards the end with good buying seen in frontline heavyweights and some short-covering in beaten-down counters.
"Though there's still nervousness in the market due to an uncertain economic outlook, increased optimism on steps announced by the Finance Minister to boost economic growth is mainly supporting the trading sentiment," traders said.
On the international front, most Asian markets closed in the red on concerns over slowing global growth amid dismal GDP data from Japan, world's third-largest economy.
The 50-share Nifty fluctuated between a high of 5,352.45 and a low of 5,309.05 before ending at 5,347.90, a rise of 27.50 points, or 0.52 per cent, over the last close.
HDFC, DLF, Reliance Infra, Sterlite Industries, Sesa Goa, Bajaj Auto, Siemens, Bharti Airtel, Wipro and BHEL were the top percentage-wise gainers from the Nifty bunch. Tata Motors, Hindalco, HeroMoto, HULL, Tata Steel, TCS, Jindal Steel, Coal India, PNB and ICICI Bank posted losses.
The turnover in cash segment dropped to Rs 8,884.72 crore from Rs 10,499.35 crore last Friday. Overall, 5,073 lakh shares changed hands in 46,77,087 trades.
