It has been a flat end to a rangebound trade of day. The Sensex closed higher by seven points at 18,409 and the Nifty gained 12 points at 5,543.
The markets had quite a listless trading session. The Sensex opened on a good note, at 18,400, only to quickly pare its initial gains and touch the day's low of 18,371.
Thereafter, it hovered around either side of the previous day's close till closing bell.
On the global front, the Asian markets had an average session of trade.
The Hang Seng closed down 0.4% at 20,889 and Nikkei closed at 9,116, down 0.6%, amid worries that a strong yen would derail the fragile economic recovery.
On the other hand, the European markets opened flat and subsequently extended their gains. The FTSE is up 0.4% at 5,221, CAC has gained 0.5% at 3,544 and DAX has gained 0.2% at 6,021.
The smallcap index (up 0.9%) and the midcap index (up 0.8%) have outperformed the benchmark index (down 0.03%).
Of the total 534 scrips traded in the smallcap index, 322 scrips have advanced while 204 have declined. Jindal Poly Films up 20% was the top gainer followed by Jindal Drill adding 16% and SEL Mfg Company gaining 14%.
In the midcap space, 157 scrips advanced while 115 declined. State Bank of Mysore up 20% leads the gainers charts. State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur and State Bank of Travancore adding 19% each were the other major gainers.
Among the sectoral indices on the BSE, the day clearly belonged to Consumer Durables (up 4.3%), PSU (up 1.1%) and Teck(up 0.7%) stocks.
Shares of consumer goods and textile companies rallied around 6% after the government extended the sops for exporters hit by fragile recovery in global markets.
The government said, sops would continue for exporters in sectors such as capital goods and textiles to help them mitigate the impact of a fragile recovery in the global economy.FMCG index was in the red througout the day.
The movers in the Consumer Durables space were Videocon Industries up 8% followed by Gitanjali Gems and Titan Industries adding 6% each.
The draggers in the FMCG space were ITC down 2%, United Spirits and Colgate Palmolive shedding 1% each.
