Another flat finish…Nifty holds above 5300

The Indian markets finished the day almost unchanged amid a volatile F&O expiry. Benchmark indices started off on a flat note with a positive bias and remained lackluster until bulls lost grip over the indices. The NSE Nifty even went on to drop below the psychological 5300 levels.

"Markets turned extremely volatile and bounced back towards the last hour of the session lifting the benchmark indices from day’s low", says Amar Ambani Vice President Research IIFL.



A lot of action was seen outside the main indices. Stocks like Core Projects, ABG Shipyard and Orbit Corp also were in demand as they are scheduled to be incorporated in the F&O segment in the July series. Finally, the BSE 30-share Sensex edged lower by 25 points to close at 17,730 and Nifty ended flat 5320.

Asian markets finished mixed. Japan's Nikkei Average ended flat, while the Hang Seng slipped 0.6% to 20,857. China’s Shanghai Composite Index decreased 1.2% while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index edged lower by 0.2%.

European stocks fell, FTSE index in UK was down 0.6%, CAC index in France was down 0.7% and DAX index in Germany slipped 0.6%.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, BSE Realty index was the top loser, down 0.9% followed by BSE Bankex index, which was down 0.9%, BSE Oil & Gas index was down 0.6%. While, BSE Mid-Cap index and the BSE Small-Cap index ended almost unchanged.

On the other hand, the BSE FMCG index was up 0.8% and the BSE Capital Goods index up 0.7%.

Outside the frontline indices, the big gainers in the broader market were Godrej Ind, Sterling Bio, Punj Lloyd and REI Agro were among the major gainers. On the other hand, losers included HCL Tech, Bharat Electronics, BOB and JP Hydro were among the major losers.