The Nifty traded in a narrow band (41 points), the index opened flat at 6,116 and touched a high of 6,120 and a low of 6075.
The S&P CNX Nifty ended at 6082, down 23 points. The Benchmark Sensex ended at 20,221, down 81 points.
In Asia, strengthening Yen played a spoilsport in Japan, while petroleum product price surge boosted refiners in Shanghai. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average ended down 0.3%, exporters weighed.
South Korea's Seoul Composite and Taiwan Weighted ended marginally higher, up 0.2% and 0.4% each.
Hang Seng fell 0.1% after Chalco (Aluminum Corporation of China) reported a quarterly loss.
Rise in refiners after China raised prices of petroleum-products failed to pull Shanghai Composite higher; the index dipped 0.2%.
European bourses were trading lower after UBS (Swiss Banking firm) reported dissapointing results and ArecelorMittal indicated a cautious road ahead. DAX, CAC 40 and FTSE 100 were all trading in the red.
On BSE, metal shares were the top losers, Tata Steel, ended down 2.1%, Sesa Goa, dropped 1,6%, Hindalco and Jindal Steel, also dipped over 1%.
Besides Metal index, banking stocks were leading the losses, the index ended down 0.8%. Ashish Chugh, Author of Hidden Gems said, 'cautious on banking as good things are already priced in, at least in the short-to-medium
Kotak Bank was down 2.1%, State Bank of India dropped 1.7% and ICICI Bank fell 0.3%.
Buying was seen in consumer durables stocks: Titan Industries surged 6.2% on upbeat second quarter results, VIP Industries rose 1.7% and Videcon Industries was up 0.9%.
Top gainers on Sensex were Maruti Suzuki, up 3.6%, ITC, up 1.3% and Jaiprakash Associates, up 1%; losers were Bharti Airtel, down 2.4%, Hindustan Uniliver, down 2.2% and SBI, down 1.8%.
Midcap and smallcap indices were down 0.4% and 0.2% each. Market breadth was negative, 1551 stocks declined for 1406 advanced stocks.
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