The BSE benchmark Sensex today rose to new life-time high of 22,853.03 in early trade, but ended the day flat due to profit-booking, particularly in IT, metal and auto stocks.
Supported by buying in capital goods and realty counters initially, the 30-share bellwether set a fresh life-time high in early trade amid firm Asian cues.
However, it declined afterwards due to profit-booking and ended the day at 22,758.37, a loss of mere 6.46 points from its previous close.
The 50-share Nifty of NSE also closed 2.30 points lower at 6,815.35 after hitting a historic high of 6,838 intra day.
Brokers said persistent capital inflows too kept the market tempo stable initially. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued their buying spree as they invested a net Rs 212.85 crore yesterday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
Traders said markets may remain volatile tomorrow on the last day of the expiry of F&O April contract.
"Sentiments were positive in early trade in response to a statement from rating agency CRISIL that stable government post-elections will help economy grow at an average of 6.5 per cent for the next five years.
"However, upside remained capped in index on the back of profit-taking ahead of F&O expiry," said Jayant Manglik, President, Retail Distribution, Religare Securities.
Sesa Sterlite plummeted 4.01 per cent, a day after it jumped over 4 per cent. Wipro was the other big loser at 2.80 per cent. SBI ended a little over 1 per cent down, while the loss for Infosys, Maruti Suzuki, M&M, Tata Motors and ITC were less than 1 per cent.
"Going ahead, fourth quarter results of FY14 and global cues shall dictate market trend," said Rakesh Goyal,Senior Vice President, Bonanza Portfolio.
