Enthused by a higher closing in US markets yesterday, the BSE benchmark index rose to day's high of 18,705.19 in the morning. HCL Technologies' 78 per cent rise in profit for the second quarter also aided the market sentiment.
Brokers said the initial rise was also on the back of Finance Minister P Chidambaram's comments yesterday that Parliament must pass laws necessary for promoting economic reforms and boosting growth.
The Sensex, however, failed to sustain the momentum as RIL and TCS came under selling pressure. Analysts said RIL closed 0.97 per cent down as weak earnings remained a worry, while TCS scrip lost 1.05 per cent ahead of its results on Friday.
After falling to day's low of 18,535.37 on fresh selling by foreign investors, the 30-share Sensex managed to end with a slender gain of 33.07 points at 18,610.77.
"Markets opened with a gap on back of global cues. However, subdued domestic scenario resulted in some selling pressure from day's highs," said Milan Bavishi, Head Research, Inventure Growth & Securities.
ITC, HDFC, L&T, ICICI Bank, Infosys and Tata Motors were among the gainers, while RIL, TCS, HDFC Bank, SBI and GAIL ended with losses.
The broad-based NSE Nifty ended with a gain of 12.25 points, or 0.22 per cent, at 5,660.25. "Volatility index is low which indicates time correction can continue," said Shubham Agarwal, Associate Vice President & Senior Technical Equities Analyst, Motilal Oswal Securities.
Asian shares ended narrowly mixed with upward bias after US industrial production beat estimates and Spain retained its investment-grade credit rating from Moody's, traders said. (MORE)
