Mumbai: The benchmark CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) erased early losses and closed almost flat for the second straight trading session today on tail-end buying that helped it to hold on to the 5,900 mark.
IT, media, metal, pharma counters attracted good buying support, while the gains were washed out by fall in banking and finance stocks.
The wide-based 50-issue Nifty resumed lower and hit a low of 5,825.85 on weak Asian advices as investors were worried about the US shutdown as lawmakers in Washington remain deadlocked over extending the nation's debt limit to avoid default before October 17 deadline.
But the NSE barometer recovered on tail-end buying and settled at 5,906.15, down 1.15 points, or 0.02 per cent, over the last close.
Second-line shares outperformed the frontline stocks as the overall market breadth was higher with 731 scrips gaining ground as against 549 that lost. Asian stocks closed in the red, while European markets were down over the US debt problem.
Top five losers from the Nifty pack were Coal India (3.32 per cent), Axis Bank (1.89 per cent), Bharti Airtel (1.55 per cent), ICICI Bank (1.55 per cent) and L&T (1.31 per cent). Five gainers were Ranbaxy (5.97 per cent), Tata Steel (4.14 per cent), BPCL (3.34 per cent), Hindalco (3.22 per cent) and TCS (2.76 per cent).
Turnover in the cash segment dipped further to Rs 9,183.8 from Rs 10,794.44 crore last Friday. A total of 4,781.82 lakh shares changed hands in 49,27,753 trades. The market capitalisation stood at Rs 63,62,675 crore.
