The benchmark Nifty ended almost flat after a volatile roller-coaster ride even as weak corporate earnings and the Bank of Japan's shocking call to cap monetary stimulus continued to rattle investors sentiment worldwide.
The 50-share index opened a tad lower at 7,844.25 and fluctuated widely between 7,889.05 and 7.788.70 before ending at 7,849.80, a marginal gain of 2.55 points, or 0.03 per cent.
A smart rebound in severely beaten-down counters like FMCG, healthcare, metal and select banking stocks mainly helped the markets to end in green.
The key indices saw about 100 points swing during the day before the smart recovery in fag-end.
Trading commenced for the May F&O on a weak note impacted by the BOJ's shocking stimulus policy and ahead of key fourth quarter earnings outcome. It remained highly volatile moving in tandam with overseas sentiment.
Market took another big hit in mid-morning session and succumbed to heavy profit-booking following disappointing earnings from the leading private lender ICICI bank which posted a massive 87 per cent plunge in consolidated net profit to Rs 406.71 crore for the March quarter.
Among the sectoral indices, Realty remained the top gainers with a solid 1.16 per cent spike followed by Pharma (1.02 per cent), Metal (0.69 per cent), Nifty bank (0.47 per cent) and FMCG (0.36 per cent).
The mid-cap and small-cap also recouped some lost ground.
However, Nifty PSU Bank slumped (1.56 per cent), IT (0.81 per cent), Auto (0.35 per cent), Infra (0.23 per cent) and Energy (0.07 per cent).
Firm buying was seen in key heavyweights like HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra, ITC, ZEE, Sun Pharma, Bharti Infratel, Lupin, Axis Bank, Indusind Bank, Maruti, HDFC and Adani Ports.
The key losers included Idea, HCL-Tech, Reliance, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, SBI, Bosch, Tata Motors, Eicher, HUL, M&M, L&T and Asian Paints.
Turnover in cash segment dropped to Rs 18,497.22 crore compared with Rs 25,613.43 crore yesterday.
A total of 10,388.15 lakh shares changed hands in 77,18,878 trades. The market capitalisation of the NSE stood at Rs 95,22,589 crore.
