The markets saw consolidation for the second consecutive day and closed on a flat note. The sell-off in banking and select oil & gas stocks and in stocks like NTPC, SAIL, Infosys and Bharti capped the gains. However, buying in FMCG, cement, pharma, select metal and infrastructure stocks helped the indices.

The first half session of the trade was positive while second half session of trade was negative for the markets. The broader indices outperformed the benchmark indices today as well. Midcap and smallcap technology and shipping stocks were on the buyers' radar.

The 30-share BSE Sensex touched the 15,000 mark during the day, for the first time Since September 2008. It witnessed a swing of 312.84 points between an intraday high of 15,046.43 and low of 14,733.59, before closing the day at 14,870.90, down just 4.01 points or 0.03%.

However, the 50-share NSE Nifty shut shop above the 4500 mark for third straight day. The index closed 5.45 points or 0.2% higher at 4534.45, after seeing a swing of 96.3 points between day's high/low of 4574.90 and 4478.60, respectively.

Among the broader indices, the BSE Midcap Index was up 1.5% or 78.86 points, to settle at 5,325.54 and the BSE Smallcap Index rose 2.11% or 131.94 points, to 6,384.92.

Ashwani Gujral, Technical Analyst said, "The market is feeling tiredness at the top and you could see a down day in the next couple of days because it is not able to take out that 4,580-4,600 zone, which is a strong resistance zone. In case we break 4,450, we could go down to about 4,300 which is healthy."

"Liquidity has been extremely strong and this market is moving on liquidity. The trend in the market in the shorter term atleast in the run-up to the budget does seem to be extremely positive or you will see corrections on the way but those corrections don't seem to have strength at this point of time", Nitin Raheja, CIO Rada Advisors said.

Sectoral indices
Midcap and smallcap technology stocks like aurionPro Solutions, Aztecsoft, Core Projects, Datamatics, Dhanus Tech, FCS Software, Four Soft, Geometric, Goldstone Tech, Logix Micro, Mastek, Micro Tech, Northgate Tech, Oracle Financial, Patni Computer, Kernex Micro, KPIT Cummins, Prithvi Info, Satyam, Subex, Tanla Solutions, Vakrangee and Zylog Systems were up 3.5-8%. Infotech Enterprises, Kale Consultants, KLG Systel, MindTree, Nucleus Software and Omnitech Info gained 9-13.4%.

Shipping stocks also witnessed buying interest, as Baltic Dry Index shot up over 11% during the day. ABG Shipyard, Shipping Corp, Shreyas Shipping and Varun Shipping were up 2-3.6%. Bharati Shipyard, Essar Shipping, Garware Offshore, GE Shipping, Great Offshore and Mercator Lines gained 5-9.5%.

Buying was also seen in media stocks - UTV Software, NDTV, Zee Entertainment, Sun TV Network, Jagran Prakashan, Adlabs Films, TV18, Deccan Chronicle, Zee News, Balaji Telefilm and IBN18 Broadcast were up 2-16.7%.

In the smallcap space, BASF, Alok Industries, PSL, Aptech and S Kumars Nationwide were up 14-16.5%.

Buying was seen in FMCG, healthcare, cement, metal, capital goods and power stocks; respective indices gained 1-4%. However, oil & gas, technology, banking stocks were under pressure; respective indices fell 1-1.3%.

In the FMCG space, United Breweries and Tata Tea gained 9-10.8%. ITC was up 5.8%, as the company increased 'Benson & Hedges', '555' prices by Rs 10 to Rs 100 a pack. United Spirits, Dabur India, HUL and Godrej Consumer were up 2.5-5%.

Among the pharma stocks, Biocon, Glenmark, Sun Pharma Advanced, Cipla, Apollo Hospital, Sun Pharma and Ranbaxy Labs went up 1.5-11%. In the metal pack, Jindal Saw, Hindalco, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, NALCO, Jindal Steel and Sterlite were up 1.8-8.6% while SAIL fell 2.3%.

In the capital goods space, Suzlon Energy shot up 14.02%. Punj Lloyd, Siemens and BHEL rose 0.6-0.9%. However, ABB was down 2.22%. Among the power stocks, GVK Power, Power Grid Corp, Areva T&D and Reliance Power were up 1-5% while Reliance Infrastructure and NTPC declined 0.9-1%.

However, SBI, Union Bank, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank were down 1.7-1.9%. Axis Bank fell 0.55% and HDFC fell 1%.

In the oil & gas pack, Cairn India, BPCL, Reliance Industries, HPCL and Reliance Petroleum slipped 1-3.3%.

Among the technology stocks, HCL Tech and Infosys lost 2-2.7% while Tech Mahindra gained 17.75%. Wipro was down 1.16%.

In the auto space, Bharat Forge, Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki gained 1.3-6.5% while M&M was down 3.85% and Ashok Leyland fell 0.68%.

Telecom stocks like Reliance Communication, MTNL, Tata Communication, Tata Teleservices and Idea Cellular were up 1-4% while Bharti Airtel fell 0.5%.

Volumes crossed the Rs 1 lakh crore mark again in today's trade. Total traded turnover stood at Rs 1,00,828.57 crore as against Rs 98,750.05 crore in previous session. It included Rs 26,238.78 crore from NSE cash segment, Rs 65,165.46 crore from NSE F&O and the balance Rs 9,424.33 crore from BSE cash segment.

Market breadth was positive; about 2068 shares advanced while 813 shares declined on the BSE. Nearly 256 shares remained unchanged.

Suzlon Energy, Satyam, Unitech, Essar Oil, Tata Steel, Reliance Industries and Aban Offshore were most active shares on the bourses.

Global cues
At the time of closing of Indian equities, the FTSE slipped 90 points, to 4,387. The CAC lost 38 points, to 3,339 and the DAX fell 37 points, to 5,107.

Among the USD futures, the Dow Jones futures fell 44 points, to 8,640 and the Nasdaq futures declined just 6 points, to 1,472.50.

Asian markets ended higher. Shanghai Composite gained 1.99% and Hang Seng was up 1.02%. Nikkei, Straits Times, Kospi and Jakarta Composite were up 0.14-0.61%. However, Taiwan Weighted fell 0.8%.