The benchmark indices ended the session on a flat note, after seeing rally in the last four sessions. Both the indices had opened higher but couldn't sustain their gains. However, in the last half an hour of the trade, the markets recovered most of their day's losses.

Metal, select financial and auto stocks helped the markets to recover in late trade while power, telecom, select oil and technology stocks remained under pressure throughout the session. Among the midcaps and smallcaps, technology and fertiliser shares bucked the trend.
 
The 30-share BSE Sensex recovered 266.68 points from the day's low of 14,608.23 and closed 34.28 points or 0.23% higher at 14,874.91. It was just short of 6 points from the 15,000 mark in the early trade.

However, the 50-share NSE Nifty shut shop at 4525.25, down just 0.10% or 4.65 points, after showing recovery of 74 points from the day's low of 4451.30. It closed above the 4500 mark for the second consecutive day.

Anu Jain, Vice President - IIFL Private Wealth Management, India Infoline said, "Basically 4,509 seems to be a crucial figure." She said as long as the Nifty stays around these levels, for another 2-3 days then we will see another push taking it to another 4-5% higher. So 4,510 is a good level which can basically give the next spurt if we consolidate here. "We may scale up to 4,650 in the near future," Jain said.

The fertiliser space was buzzing today. Coromandel Fertilisers, Fertiliser and Chemical, National Fertiliser and Rashtriya Chemical gained 9-14.7%. Chambal Fertilisers, Deepak Fertiliser, GSFC, Mangalore Chemical, Nagarjuna Fertiliser and Oswal Chemical went up 2-5%.

Technology (midcap and smallcap) stocks witnessed huge buying interest. Allied Digital, ALLSEC Tech, aurionPro Solutions, Aztecsoft, Core Projects, Datamatics Global, Dhanus Tech, Firstsource Solutions, Geometric, HCL Tech, KPIT Cummins, Logix Micro, 3i Infotech, Northgate Tech, Nucleus Software, Patni Computer, Polaris and Tech Mahindra gained 4-8%.

Accel Frontline, Hexaware Tech, Kale Consultant, MindTree, Prithvi Info, Rolta, Sasken Communication and Satyam were up 10-18.5%.

Piyush Garg, CIO, ICICI Securities feels that till the budget, the markets are likely to go up. He had a target of around 4,850 on the Nifty for the next few weeks. "Midcap IT and export oriented stocks are dark horse and over a period of next 6-18 months these stocks have a prudential to do fairly well," he said.

Sectoral indices
The BSE Metal Index was up 2.48% or 283.62 points, to close at 11,740.89, as Tata Steel, Sterlite, Jindal Saw and SAIL were up 3.5-8%.

In the auto space, Ashok Leyland, Tata Motors, Hero Honda, M&M and Bharat Forge gained 1-7.8%. Respective Index rose 1.37% or 64.25 points, to 4,764.30. However, Maruti Suzuki was down 0.81%.

There was a mixed trend in IT, capital goods, healthcare, FMCG and banking sectors. In the banking space, SBI and ICICI Bank gained 1.3-1.6% while Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra, PNB and HDFC Bank fell 2.4-3%. HDFC was up 4.3%.

Among the capital goods stocks, Punj Lloyd, ABB and L&T moved up 1-3.4% while Siemens was down 3.15% and BHEL declined 0.39%.

In the technology space, Infosys was up just 0.33% while Wipro and TCS fell 1.6% and 0.54%, respectively.

Cairn India was up 1.86% in the oil & gas pack. However, HPCL and IOC lost 3% each. ONGC was down 0.79%. BPCL, Reliance Petroleum and Reliance Industries were flat.

However, the BSE Realty Index fell 2% or 80.67 points, to 3,954.92, as Indiabulls Real was down 6.02% and DLF fell 2.43%. Omaxe, Ansal Properties, Parsvnath, Peninsula Land and HDIL were down 0.5-2.2%.

Selling was also seen in power space; Reliance Infrastructure, Tata Power, Areva T&D, Torrent Power, NTPC, Suzlon Energy, GVK Power, Reliance Power and GMR Infra lost 1-4.3%. The BSE Power Index declined 1.65% or 48.93 points, to 2,908.12.

In the telecom space, Idea Cellular and Tata Communication fell 1.5-2%. Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communication declined just 0.4-0.7%.

Among the broader indices, the BSE Midcap Index was up 0.82% or 42.47 points, to settle at 5,246.68 and the Smallcap Index rose 0.91% or 56.20 points, to 6,252.98.

In the midcap space, Kansai Nerolac, Wockhardt, Ballarpur Industries, Bajaj Holdings, Ispat Industries and IFCI were up 11-20%. In the smallcap space, Ankur Drugs, JSW Holdings, Bartronics, FDC and Ramco Industries gained 12-20%.

Volumes were on the higher side compared to previous session. Total traded turnover stood at Rs 98,750.05 as against Rs 91,474.41 crore on Monday. It comprised of Rs 25,683.95 crore from the NSE cash segment, Rs 63,624.63 crore from the NSE F&O and the balance Rs 9,441.47 crore from the BSE cash segment.

The market breadth ended in favour of advances; about 1718 shares advanced while 1165 shares declined on the BSE. Nearly 253 shares remained unchanged.

Global cues
Global markets were showing mixed trend. At the time of closing of Indian equities, the FTSE was down 34 points, to 4,472. The CAC was down 1.8 points, to 3,377 and the DAX declined just 2.5 points, to 5,140.

Among the US futures, the Dow Jones futures rose 15 points, to 8,703 and the Nasdaq futures gained 3.75 points at 1,473.75.

Asian markets ended flat. Straits Times, Kospi, Taiwan, Shanghai Composite, Nikkei and Jakarta Composite were flat. However, Hang Seng plunged 2.64%.