Nifty ends volatile session on flat note ahead of expiry

Equity benchmarks witnessed consolidation throughout the session on Wednesday, ahead of F&O expiry tomorrow for the month of June. First half of trade was negative with modest losses on weak global cues and even Nifty struggled at 5300 level. However, the Nifty managed to hold 5300 in last couple of hours.

Telecom, healthcare, realty, FMCG, cement, private financial and select technology companies' shares were on the buyers' radar. However, selling in heavyweights like L&T, NTPC, Reliance Industries, ONGC and SBI capped the gains. Jindal Steel, Sterlite, Reliance Power, HCL Tech, Wipro, Tata Motors, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IDFC and M&M were other losers in trade.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 17,755.94, up 6.25 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 6.60 points to 5323.15. The Nifty June futures ended at 17 points premium and July futures at 25 points premium, as per provisional data.

Madhabi Puri Buch, Managing Director and CEO, ICICI Securities sees the Sensex crossing 19,000 by the end of the year but there will be volatility in middle. "We should see the Sensex crossing 19,000 by the end of the year. So I would prefer to keep somewhat long range target. In the middle, there will be volatility which is in some ways good ," she has said.

Mahindra Satyam was the most active in late trade, as the company is likely to be in advanced stage of resolving the Upaid tax dispute, sources told CNBC-TV18. The Indian IT company had moved the US court against Upaid over a tax dispute in February. The stock shot up nearly 10%.

Tata Steel, VIP Industries, Sesa Goa, Karnataka Bank, L&T and ICICI Bank were the other most active shares.