The NSE benchmark Nifty managed to end in positive terrain with a modest 2 points gain on fag-end buying in fundamentally strong stocks even as retail investors remained hopeful of more reform.
It was a choppy and range-bound session for most of the day after a stellar rally yesterday.
Market participants remained vigilant on resurfacing concerns on the monsoon front as well as increasing worries about inflation in the midst of imminent US Fed rate hike, even though the risk of a Greek exit from the eurozone diminished.
However, market turned choppy and traded rangebound for better part of the day in the absence of any definite cues and profit-taking at higher level to slip below the 8,600 mark briefly. But some fag-end buying helped the key indices to end in green.
The broader 50-share Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) fluctuated between a high of 8,642.95 and a low of 8,593.15 before settling at 8,642.95, a modest gain of 1.80 points, or 0.02 per cent.
Elsewhere in Asia, most equities ended firmly higher in relatively holiday thin trade, with China's Shanghai Composite rallying by 3.5 percent and Hang Seng 1 per cent.
Meanwhile, European stocks are trading weak after reversing their early gains.
On the sectoral front, FMCG, Healthcare, Technology, Infra, Auto, Energy and Media ranked among the major gainers.
However, Banking, Metal and Realty saw good amount of profit-taking after overnight rally.
Top gainers were Infosys, ITC, TCS, M&M, IDEA, Tata Motors, TechM, Sun Pharma, BHEL, Ultratechcem, Lupin and L&T.
Heavy selling pressure was seen in banking counters particularly in private lenders after government decided to keep banks out of the composite foreign investment cap.
Among the key losers included stocks like HDFC, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Kotak Bank, SBI, Yes Bank, Asian Paints, HUL, Wipro, Coal India, ZEE and Reliance Industries.
Turnover in the cash segment dropped to Rs 14,983.44 crore as against Rs 15,424.55 crore yesterday.
A total of 8,053.99 lakh shares changed hands in 70,40,028 trades and the total market capitalisation of Nifty stood at Rs 1,02,20,921 crore.
