A late burst of frenzied buying activity across most index heavyweights helped the benchmark Nifty to rebound by 46 points as investors largely ignored sluggish macro data outcome and spurt in wholesale inflation.
Though a delay in onset of monsoon and the revamped India-Mauritius tax treaty certainly kept investors mood bit risk-cautious alongwith bad-loan stress afflicting state-run banks.
After a better start to trade, volatility struck bourses in later morning trade as the key benchmark indices plunged below the key 7,800 mark briefly on the back of heavy unwinding in banking stocks.
However, equities stated a smart rebound toward the tail-end trade on value buying in beaten down counters.
Meanwhile, breaking the deflationary trend, the wholesale price index (WPI) saw a moderate 0.34 per cent increase in April after a dismal macro-data outcome last week.
Elsewhere in the region, equities ended firmly higher as investors shrugged off disappointing Chinese macro data released over the weekend and concerns over the hesitant pace of economic recovery at the world's second largest economy.
European bourses, on the contrary are trading on a back foot.
The 50-share index opened higher at 7,831.20 and fluctuated widely between a high of 7,873.90 and a low of 7,772.15 before ending at 7,860.75, showing a rise of 45.85 points, or 0.59 per cent.
Among the sectoral movers FMCG and Realty contributed the most, rallying 1.57 and 1.45 per cent, respectively. It was followed by Metal (0.80 per cent), IT (0.52 per cent), Auto (0.49 per cent), Pharma (0.43 per cent) and Nifty Bank (0.12 per cent), while Mid-cap and Small-cap settled with modest gains.
However, PSU Bank indices plunged over 4.78 per cent led by key heavyweight stocks on concerns over mounting non-performing assets.
Major gainers in index stocks were ITC, HDFC Bank, HDFC, Bosch, Bharti Infratel, TCS, Infosys, Yes Bank, HUL, Dr Reddy's, Kotak Mahindra, Indusind Bank, Tata Motors and Maruti.
The key losers included Bank of Baroda, SBI, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Adani Ports, Cipla, Idea, Relaince and ONGC.
Turnover in cash segment fell to Rs 15,394.6 crore compared to Rs 19,336.097 crore last Friday.
A total of 7,908.63 lakh shares changed hands in 70,52,680 trades. The market capitalisation of the NSE stood at Rs 95,24,751 crore.
