New Delhi, Feb 23 (IANS): India's benchmark equity indices snapped a five-day losing streak but only managed to close Tuesday's trade session on a flat-to-positive note.
The S&P BSE Sensex closed at 49,751.41, up by just 7.09 points, or 0.01 per cent, from its previous close of 49,744.32 points.
The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange closed at 14,707.80, higher by 32.10 points, or 0.22 per cent.
In the day's session, Nifty made an intra-day high during the initial hours of the trade, then slid and went sideways.
At the end of the trade session, gains in commodity companies were offsetted by a sell-off in financial stocks.
Among sectors, metals, realty, and auto were the main gainers while banking was the main loser.
Globally, Asian markets mostly rose on Tuesday, powered by growing hope that vaccine rollouts will allow the world economy to get back on track, but the optimism was moderated by niggling worries that the recovery will fan inflation and interest rate hikes.
European stocks retreated amid a choppy morning of trading, with tech stocks following their global counterparts lower on fears over rising bond yields.
"Nifty halted the five-day losing streak but the recovery or bounce was feeble," said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities.
"This raises doubts about the sustainability of this bounce. However, a positive advance decline ratio raises hope for the broader markets."
Siddhartha Khemka, Head, Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, said: "Elevated bond yields, rise in crude prices and resurgence in Covid cases continue to dent sentiments. Overall higher VIX (India Volatility Index) is keeping the roller-coaster ride in the market and restricting its upside movement."
"Going ahead the market may continue with its consolidation for some time in absence of any trigger or event in the near term. The valuation continues to be high which does not provide much comfort given rising bond yields, inflation and surge in Covid cases."
Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said: "Domestic market got back on its feet during the morning trade supported by a strong Asian market while negative waves from European peers outweighed the gains by the end of the day."
"The expectation of strong global recovery as prompted by rising international commodity prices helped the market but was tempered due to elevated bond yield and virus cases. Consequently, volatility has increased in the domestic front, but broad markets continue to be attracted with themes like mid and small caps, cyclicals, energy, PSUs, metals and industries."