Mumbai: The benchmark Nifty ended a highly volatile session on a flat note after climbing psychological 8,000-barrier as investors opted to lock in gains after two session rally steered by key interest rate cut.
Slowdown in India's manufacturing activity along with core sectors growth data largely influenced the trading sentiment. Equity indices began the trading day with solid gains and reclaimed the curcial 8,000 mark briefly, but soon turned volatile and succumbed to fresh bout of selling in rate-sensitive counters that had been moving higher for last two day's after a bigger-than-expected 50 basis points cut to spur growth.
It largely traded in a tight range most part of the day in the absence of follow-up buying as traders opted to stay on sidelines ahead of long weekend, though the key indices managed to end in green with modest gains.
The 50-share Nifty opened firmly higher at 7,992.05 and hovered between a high of 8,008.25 and a low of 7,930.65 before settling at 7,950.90, a mere 2 points gain. Meanwhile, other Asian and emerging equities continued their strong rally following positive leads from overnight markets despite a slew of gloomy macro data from Japan and China including disappointing eurozone manufacturing reports.
Healthcare, Infra, FMCG and Energy were the top performer among the sectoral indices, while Mid-cap and Small cap gained marginally. However, Technology witnessed heavy unwinding along with rate sensitives like Realty, PSU Bank, Bank Nifty and Metal. Major gainers included TCS, Sun Pharma, Infosys, L&T, Lupin, Adani Ports, Ultratechcem, Dr Reddys', Zee, Indusind, ONGC, Reliance, TechM and Tata Power.
HCL-Tech topped losers list, plunged over 13 per cent impacted by revenue warning. Other key laggards were HDFC, ICICI Bank, Maruti, SBI, Kotak Bank, M&M, BHEL, GAIL, Power Grid, HDFC Bank, Tata Motors and Vedanta.
