The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Monday ended flat in a volatile session amid mixed global cues. The S&P BSE Sensex touched a high of 63,136, up 157 points, in early deals, but thereafter erased gains and slipped into red to a low of 62,854, down 282 points on the day's high. The Sensex eventually ended on a flat note at 62,970, down 9 points. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty oscillated between gains and losses before settling 26 points higher at 18,691.
On the 30-share Sensex platform, TCS, Reliance, NTPC, Airtel, PowerGrid, L&T were among the losers. On the flip side, Maruti, Tata Motors, Titan, UltraCemco, Bajaj Finserv, IndusInd Bank emerged gainers.
In the broader market, the BSE Midcap index rose 1 per cent and Smallcap index added 0.7 per cent.
Sectorwise, auto and pharma rose 1 per cent each, while FMCG and metal indices jumped 0.5 per cent each.
In the previous session on Friday, the S&P BSE Sensex dropped 260 points to 62,979, while the NSE Nifty50, fell 105 points to 18,665.
"Weak Asian and European cues dampened the domestic market sentiment, as benchmarks ended mixed in a range-bound session amid selective buying in key sectoral stocks. Global markets are dictating trends back home and investors don't want to be in a hurry to take long positions in times of high uncertainty," said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd.
In Asian markets, Seoul ended in the green, while Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong settled lower. Equity markets in Europe were trading lower. The US markets ended in negative territory on Friday.
In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge climbed 1.04 per cent and smallcap index jumped 0.71 per cent.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.45 per cent to $74.18 a barrel.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 344.81 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, the rupee declined by 9 paise to close at 82.04 (provisional) against the US dollar on Monday amid geopolitical concerns and firming crude oil prices.After opening lower, the rupee staged a recovery to hit the day’s high of 81.94 in morning trade amid early gains in equities and a weaker greenback in the overseas markets.
However, the local currency retreated from early highs amid volatile stock markets and touched a low of 82.05 in afternoon trade at the interbank foreign exchange market. The rupee closed at the day’s low level of 82.05, showing a loss of 9 paise over the previous close of 81.96 against the US dollar.