Putting an end to a volatile session, the Sensex finally closed the day in the red.The key benchmark index, Sensex lost 62 points to end at 20,498 and the Nifty shed 11 points at 6,146.
In the broader markets, the midcaps shed 0.2% and the smallcaps ended flat at 9,841.
In comaprison, the Sensex underformed the broader markets at 0.3% in the negative.
The markets had earlier opened in the green but quickly pared its gains to slip into the red due to the slump in the banking stocks.
Moving ahead the Sensex almost recovered only to slip to touch a low of 20,449.
Later, in the afternnon trades, the Sensex finally broke into the green as RIL inched ahead and Infosys registered a new all time high. However, in the last of the trading, the benchmark index lost its steam.
On the other hand, the Asian markets opened higher for the day on the back of encouraging US data suggesting a recovery
in the world's biggest economy.
Finally, at the close Taiwan Weighted was the only index to close in the red, shedding 0.3%.
Meanwhile, Shanghai Composite, KLSE Composite and Nikkei gained 1% each followed by Jakarta Composite, Straits Times and Seoul Composite gaining 0.6% - 0.7%.
On the European front, the markets had a mixed opening. FTSE gained 1.5% while CAC and DAX aretrading flat.
Among the BSE sectoral indices, FMCG and Oil & Gas up 1% each were the main gainers.
Health Care, Power and IT were the only other sectors in the positive. Bankex, down 2% followed by Realty, Consumer Durables were the draggers in today's trades.
