The equity market saw intense volatility as the Reserve Bank today left key interest rate unchanged in its bi-monthly policy review as the NSE index, Nifty, ended flat.
Investor sentiment swayed between bouts of value buying in key stocks and profit-booking in interest-sensitive shares on the NSE.
In its monetary policy, RBI kept the short-term lending rate or repo rate unchanged at 7.5 per cent and the cash reserve ratio static at 4 per cent. The statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) has also been retained at 21.5 per cent.
Buying interest was seen in key FMCG, Metal, Energy, Infra kept the market afloat well supported by shares of MidCap and Smallcap companies.
While, stocks from banking and financials, realty succumbed to selling pressure, while Pharma segment saw profit-booking at higher levels.
The 50-share Nifty opened higher at 8,684.45 and hovered between 8,693.60 and 8,586.85 before closing at 8,660.30, showing a marginal gain of 0.40 points.
Index-wise, Metal gained by 2.22 per cent, Infra 0.92 per cent, Energy 0.68 per cent. Broader market midcap and smallcap shares surged over one per cent.
Stock-wise, Tata Steel rallied by 4.84 per cent, SSLT 3.26 per cent, Bajaj-Auto 2.86 per cent, NTPC 2.76 per cent, M&M 2.11 per cent.
Notable losers were IDFC 2.22 per cent, Axis Bank 1.97 per cent, HeroMotoCorp 1.51 per cent, SunPharma 1.48 per cent and Indusind 1.37 per cent.
Turnover in the cash segment climbed to Rs 18,094.42 crore against Rs 17,040.05 crore last Wednesday, A total of 9,876.52 lakh shares changed hands in 77,01,592 trades. The market capitalisation at NSE stood at Rs 10,168,413 crore.
Elsewhere, Asian markets ended higher on overnight gains in the US stocks, and the European stocks were trading higher.
Meanwhile, Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 936.81 crore yesterday as per provisional data.
