Strong corporate earnings could not sustain the market sentiment as fag-end profit-booking ahead of tomorrow's F&O expiry day led the indices to end almost flat for second day at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) today.
Earlier, hectic buying along with short-covering recouped the market from overnight loss to trade in positive zone buoyed by firm Asian cues and robust Q3 earning results in Telecom giant Bharti-Airtel and premium lender ICICI bank.
But, later both the shares fell as investors fail to absorb the Bharti Airtel estimate with the projected earnings and ICICI Bank data of non-performing asset rose in its December Q3.
Massive dumping by FIIs for the past two days amid investors anxiety on outcome of two-day Federal Reserve meet on reduction in stimulus which would be due later tonight took the bourses to extreme choppiness.
Meanwhile, Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 1,267.35 crore as per the provisional data from the stock exchanges.
Selling was seen mainly in banking, metal, energy and realty counters. While IT, pharma, FMCG and shares from mid-cap and small-cap companies witnessed buying activity.
The 50-share index traded between a high 6,170.45 and a low of 6,109.80 before closing at 6,120.25, down 6.00 points, or 0.10 per cent, over the previous close.
Major losers were SSLT, IndusindBk, Bank of Baroda, Tata Steel, Bajaj Auto, Hindalco, ICICI Bank, Jindal Steel, SBIN and PNB.
Key gainers were Maruti, BHEL, BPCL, Ranbaxy, Heromotoco, Sunpharma, Axis Bank, Cipla, Asian Paint and Infy.
Turnover in the cash segment declined to Rs 11,112.44 crore from Rs 12,780.51 crore yesterday. A total of 5,487.25 lakh shares changed hands in 55,13,877 trades, while market capitalisation stood at Rs 65,93,324 crore.
