Markets remained subdued thorugh out the day as volatility ruled the roost ahead of futures and options expiry this week, weak Asian peers also weighed on the sentiment.
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.
