Mumbai: In a volatile trade, the benchmark BSE Sensex extended gains for the third consecutive day by rising a marginal 17.19 points to 28,463.31 as investors remained on the sidelines on lack of triggers from both the domestic and global fronts.
On a weekly basis, the Sensex and the wider Nifty added 801.91 points (2.89 percent) and 249.30 points (2.98 percent), respectively.
"Markets swung between positive and negative terrain as it seems to await to take cues from the monsoon showers and corporate earnings ahead," said Vinod Nair, Head Fundamental Research at Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.
Sentiment remained cautious after IMD said monsoon was 6 per cent below normal. Also, IMF chief said the Greek plan is 'categorically' not viable and the country is in need of a debt reduction, as quoted by sources, too hit trading.
Starting off higher, the gauge continued its upward march to hit the day's high of 28,576.32 on the back of sustained foreign inflows after the government simplified FDI rules and a firming Asian trend.
Later, profit-booking took hold that wiped off the gains completely and took the benchmark back to the negative zone as it touched a low of 28,417.46. But some late-buying saved the day and helped the index close higher by 17.19 points or 0.06 percent at 28,463.31.
The 50-share Nifty, after climbing to the session's high of 8,642.95, too succumbed to the selling pressure and settled the day at 8,609.85, up 1.80 points or 0.02 percent.
Intra-day, it went below the 8,600-mark to touch a low of 8,593.15.
Banking stocks, which were in the limelight yesterday, saw some selling pressure following reports that the government's approval of composite foreign investment cap by clubbing all forms of overseas investments won't benefit the sector, brokers said.
Meanwhile, foreign investors bought shares worth Rs 745.81 crore yesterday as per provisional data.
In overseas markets, European stocks were trading lower in their afternoon trade ahead of a debate and voting by lawmakers in Germany today on the plan for a third bailout for Greece.
Key indices in Germany and the UK were off between 0.10 percent and 0.22 percent, while France's index was quoted higher by 0.04 percent.
Meanwhile, European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged after monetary policy review yesterday.
Chinese shares recovered further after a series of government support measures to halt their recent crash. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite index jumped 3.51 percent. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was up 1 percent. Other indices in Japan, Singapore and Taiwan closed higher by 0.04 percent to 0.44 percent, while South Korea's Kopsi was quoted lower by 0.33 percent.
Turning to the domestic market, 19 scrips finished higher while 11 others closed lower.
Major gainers were BHEL (2.02 percent), M&M (1.74 percent), Infosys (1.44 percent), Vedanta (1.25 percent), ITC (1.23 percent), Lupin (1.02 percent), Tata Steel (0.99 percent) and Tata Motors (0.92 percent).
However, HDFC fell by 2.46 percent followed by Coal India 1.88 percent, HUL 1.07 percent, Axis Bank 1.06 percent and Wipro 0.81 percent.
Among the sectoral indices, consumer durables rose by 1.92 percent, followed by teck 0.99 percent, power 0.96 percent, IT 0.93 percent, healthcare 0.69 percent and FMCG 0.67 percent, while realty fell by 0.50 percent and metal 0.45 percent.
The market breadth continued to remain strong as 1,423 stocks ended higher, 1,407 finished lower and 139 ruled steady.
Total turnover rose to Rs 2,944.85 crore from Rs 2,777.43 crore yesterday.
