At the start of the day, the Sensex had opened in the green and more importantly, above the 18,000-mark, which was a welcome relief after the mayhem witnessed on Monday.
But the benchmark indices were unable to build on from thereon.
However, during the early afternoon the BSE benchmark index touched an intra day high of 18,110, up 94 points from the opening as the European markets opened firm and most Asian markets staged an intraday recovery to close in the green.
At the end of the day, the markets closed on a flat note, with the Sensex at 18,012 up 19 points, and the Nifty at 5,394 up 8 points.
Some volatility was witnessed as traders rolled over positions in the derivatives segment from the near-month May 2011 series to June 2011 series, ahead of the expiry of the May 2011 derivatives contracts on Thursday, 26 May 2011.
Kunal Bothra, Technical Analyst, LKP Securities states that till the time the Nifty is 5450 here will be sustained selling pressure in the markets. The next important level to look out for is 5350. A weekly close below this will trigger another round of sell-off.
Top gainers on the Sensex were led by Larsen & Toubro at Rs 1,641 up 2%, followed by Cipla at Rs 315, also up 2%, and Hero Honda at Rs 1,812 up 1%. ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, Reliance Communications and Reliance Industries added 1% each. Conversely, Relaince Infra was the top loser on the Sensex down 2% at Rs 538, while DLF let-off 2% at Rs 219, and ITC declined 1.5% to Rs 187. State Bank of India, TCS, Hindalco Industries and ONGC shed 1% each.
In the broader markets, which ended flat, the Mid-cap index was at 6,661 and the Small-cap index was at 8,054.
Among the sectoral indices, the Capital Goods index advanced 1% to end at 12,959, led by the 2% surge in heavy engineering major L&T at Rs 1,641.
Crompton Greaves at Rs 251 added 2%, followed by Suzlon Energy at Rs 49 up 1%. Alstom Projects, Havell's India and ABB moved up 1% each.
The Consumer Durables index followed the Capital Goods counter on the sectoral indices chart, also up 1% at 6,357. Significant gainers in this space were VIP Industries at Rs 636 up 3%, Titan Industries at rs 4,280 and Rajesh Exports at Rs 89, both up 1%.
Most banking scrips rose on account of bargain hunting after recent downfall.
The Bankex closed up nearly 1% at 11,880. Canara Bank was the top gainer in this space at Rs 519, followed by Yes Bank at Rs 283 and Punjab National Bank at Rs 1,055, all up 3%.
India's largest private sector bank by net profit, ICICI Bank, gained more than 1% at Rs 1,019.
FMCG stocks, amongst the most favoured yesterday, lost momentum today, and the index slipped 1% to 3,749. Major losers on this counter were Tata Global Beverages off 4% at Rs 92, after the company reported a 53% fall in net profits for Q4FY11 at Rs 180.5 crore, versus Rs 391 crore reported in Q4FY10.
United Breweries at Rs 498 and ITC at Rs 187 slipped 1% each. Hindustan Unilever at Rs 303 was down 0.5%, while Colgate Palmolive ended down 0.3% at Rs 898.
Of the 2,900 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,336 advanced, while 1,432 declined, indicating a negative market breadth.
