Nifty ends flat post consolidation around 5600

The benchmark Nifty closed above 5600 mark for second consecutive day, after consolidating around the same level for throughout the session. The index slipped in first half of trade due to weak global cues but second half of trade was too volatile in trade.

Tarun Kataria Chief Executive Officer of Religare Capital believes that our markets will see a high degree of volatility over the next 2-3 months which is likely to continue into the long term. "I reckon for the next 2-3 years, volatility will be the theme and therefore the way you trade the market, the way you invest in the market will be perhaps a little bit different than it was of the last 5-6 years, where you bought something you held it for an extended period of time. Now perhaps it is a traders market. Some sort of change we need to see in investor pattern," he said.

He however ruled out a bubble in the equity markets like in the year 2007. ''The valuations are fair but liquidity will support the market,'' he explained.

Buying in shares of technology, PSU banking, telecom, metal, realty and cement companies' supported equity benchmarks to end with positive bias. However, private financial, auto and power companies' shares along with ITC, Reliance Industries, L&T and Cipla witnessed selling pressure, which limited the upside.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 18666.71, up 21.65 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose just 3.85 points to 5607.85. The broader indices also ended flat with positive bias. However, the Nifty September futures closed at 10 points discount, as per provisional data.

Even European markets, which slipped in initial trade, were recovered, at the time of closing of Indian markets. More than 1% decline in US markets amid renewed concerns about European banking sector weighed on Indian markets in first half of trade. However, Asian markets closed in red.