Of the 30-share Sensex, 13 ended higher, while 17 led by Power Grid, Tata Steel, Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, NTPC, Tata Motors, Dr Reddy's, M&M, GAIL, Infosys and L&T finished lower, fell by up to 2.40 per cent
Bouncing back towards the fag-end in an otherwise choppy trade, Sensex today closed 41 points up at 28,412.89 with FMCG, healthcare and realty stocks leading the gains, tracking a mixed global trend.
Cautious stance adopted by participants, tracking mixed trend in regional markets ahead of the next week's US Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan policy meets too influenced trading sentiment.
"The investors have adopted a wait-and-watch approach to the global sentiment which is playing between cautious and optimism over the FOMC meet early next week. Currently, FII's are sellers in the market," said Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.
The 30-share Sensex after shuttling between 28,454.02 and 28,311.11, settled 40.66 points or 0.14 per cent higher at 28,412.89. The gauge had gained about 19 points on Wednesday.
The NSE Nifty ended 15.95 points or 0.18 per cent higher at 8,742.55 after moving in a range of 8,751.95 to 8,704.35.
Reliance Industries stayed in the lead from the Sensex pack and climbed 1.63 per cent to Rs 1,062.45, followed by Cipla (1.60 per cent), Maruti Suzuki (1.47 per cent), HDFC Ltd (1.33 per cent), ITC Ltd (1.23 per cent) and Adani Ports (1.15 per cent).
Of the 30-share Sensex, 13 ended higher, while 17 led by Power Grid, Tata Steel, Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, NTPC, Tata Motors, Dr Reddy's, M&M, GAIL, Infosys and L&T finished lower, fell by up to 2.40 per cent.
Bank stocks succumbed to profit-booking after gaining 0.77 per cent on Wednesday dragging the bankex index down 0.58 per cent.
Axis Bank fell 2.25 per cent, SBI declined 0.70 per cent, while ICICI Bank lost 0.35 per cent.
Among the sectoral indices, FMCG rose by 0.66 per cent, healthcare 0.52 per cent, realty 0.14 per cent and teck 0.08 per cent, while consumer durables fell by 0.97 per cent and power by 0.94 per cent.
In the broader markets, small-cap index also rose by 0.27 pc while mid-cap shed 0.25 per cent.
Key indices in Japan and South Korea dropped 0.14 per cent to 1.26 per cent, while Hong Kong moved up by 0.63 per cent. China, South Korea and Taiwan markets remained closed today.
European stocks were trading narrowly mixed ahead of monetary policy decision from the Bank of England. Indices in Germany and the UK moved up 0.10 per cent to 0.21 per cent, while France CAC was quoted lower by 0.01 per cent.
"Investor sentiment also took a bit of a dive after doubts arose with respect to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD’s) forecast of an above normal rainfall in India," said Shreyash Devalkar, fund manager, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund.
The market breadth remained positive as 1,469 stocks ended in the green while 1,260 finished lower and 197 ruled steady.
The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 3,801.03 crore, higher than turnover of Rs 3,616.03 crore registered during the previous trading session.
Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com