Nifty overruns early choppy ride to end flat

Mumbai, Jan 17 (PTI) The bourses withstood initialsetback and recovered swiftly as the benchmark S&P CNX Niftyconcluded the highly volatile session virtually flat at theNational Stock Exchange (NSE) here today.

The 50-share index shuttled between 5,696.15 and 5,624.15before settling at 5,654.75, with a mere 0.20 point gain overits previous close.

The session commenced on a lower note as tradingsentiment remained weak after last week''s hectic sell-off andbearish Asian cues, which witnessed selling pressure overChina''s rate hike decision. The key index encountered highamount of volatility during the intra-day trade and swungbetween ups and down due to short-covering bounces. It finallymanaged to recover from losses in mid-afternoon trade led bytechnology and financial counters.

Market sentiment was adversely affected by fears of aninterest rate hike and extreme caution ahead of the corporateQ3 earning seasons, traders said.

Further, the way global environment is shaping up on theinflation front, particularly across Asia, is a grave concernsnow as this may force FIIs to look at other emerging marketsfor better returns, they added.

HDFC, Kotak Bank, Cipla, Axis Bank, Bajaj Auto, InfosysTech, Bharti Airtel, TCS, HCL-Tech and Cairn were the topgainers from the Nifty.

However, Reliance Infra, Reliance Capital, Rpower, JPAssociates, Rcom, Sterlite Industries, DLF, SAIL, Sesagoa andL&T registered heavy losses.

Total turnover in the cash segment declined to Rs11,360.89 crore from Rs 12,744 crore last Friday. A total of5,191.57 lakh shares changed hands in 56,03,112 trades andmarket capitalisation stood at Rs 66,14,468 crore at the endof day.