Bouts of selling in key counters of IT, FMCG, pharma and realty led the benchmark Nifty to end almost flat at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) today.
Market momentum was volatile and mostly range-bound amid investor cautiousness after data showed main market movers FIIs turned net sellers last week.
Moderation in Wholesale Price Index (WPI), which eased to 5.43 per cent in June from 6.01 per cent in May, failed to make any positive impact on the market which showed downward bias.
However, buying in banking, auto, metal and shares of small-cap companies prevented a sharp fall in indices.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 723.48 crore on last Friday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
The 50-share NSE index traded between a high of 7,478.85 and a low of 7,422.15 before ending at 7,454.15, a marginal loss of 5.45 points, or 0.07 per cent.
IT major HCL Tech dropped 3.49 per cent on profit -booking, Infosys fell 3.05 per cent, Wipro 2.54 per cent, HUL 2.94 per cent and and ACC dropped 1.85 per cent. Other notable losers included Cairn, Coal India, DLF, Sun Pharma and Cipla.
Among gainers, Hindalco rallied 3.99 per cent, Asian Paints 3.63 per cent, PNB 2.93 per cent, Tata Power 2.80 per cent and Tata Steel was up 2.29 per cent.
Turnover in the cash segment slumped to Rs 13,752.58 crore from Rs 19,323.63 crore yesterday. A total of 7,743.22 lakh shares changed hands in 68,12,362 trades, while the market capitalisation stood at Rs 85,51,245 crore.
