The Indian equity markets ended on a flat note at the end of a choppy session. The start was encouraging mainly on account of positive overseas cues. Asian markets were buoyant following the overnight rally on Wall Street. Dow on Tuesday notched its first triple-digit gain since Fed announced "QE3." European indices too galloped on speculation that Spain was a step closer to requesting a bailout. Spanish index, which was up over 3% on Tuesday, is up more than 1%. Moody’s has retained Spain’s investment grade debt rating but the outlook is negative.

However, the Indian stock benchmarks were just not able to break out of its narrow trading range. Technically, the NSE Nifty managed to sustain above the support level of 5,630.

Consumer Durables, Capital Goods, FMCG and Auto stocks were among the top gainers.  

Small-Cap stocks also gained some ground while the Mid-Cap stocks saw some selling.

On the hand, Realty, Oil & Gas and Metals indices were under pressure.

The BSE Sensex closed at 18,610, up 33 points over the previous close. It had earlier touched a day's high of 18,705 and a day's low of 18,535. It opened at 18,667.

The NSE Nifty'> NSE Nifty ended at 5,660, up 12 points over the previous close. It earlier touched a day’s high of 5,684 and a day’s low of 5,633. It opened at 5,681.

“The market has turned a tad volatile lately with the main indices witnessing zig-zag movements – on a daily as well as intraday basis. The churning is likely to continue for a while as market participants analyse corporate results. What is comforting is that the overall prospects for Indian equities have improved slightly in the wake of the series of economic reform measures announced by the Government in the past few weeks. But, considerable challenges prevail on the macro front, with inflation refusing to cool materially and industrial growth tepid. The fiscal health of the Government too continues to be a source of trepidation and a major factor behind the RBI’s reluctance to cut borrowing costs,” says Amar Ambani, Head of Research, IIFL.

Lupin, Tata Power, Cairn India, Ranbaxy, L&T, PNB, HDFC, Bharti Airtel and JP Associates were among the major gainers in BSE Sensex and Nifty.
 
While, DLF, Ambuja Cement, Gail, ACC, Reliance Industries, Sun Pharma, TCS and HCL Tech were among the major losers in Sensex and Nifty.

The INDIA VIX on NSE declined 2.5% to end at 15.17. It hit a day’s high of 15.57 and a day’s low of 14.36.

Globally, Asian markets rose on Wednesday after overnight gains on Wall Street. The Nikkei index in Japan rallied for the third straight session, the index gained 1.2% followed by the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong gained 1%. The Shanghai Composite index in China gained 0.3% and the Kospi index in South Korea was up 0.7%. On the other hand, market in Taiwan declined 0.2%.
 
European markets opened with smart gains and were trading higher. The  FTSE index in the UK was up 0.3%, while the CAC index in France was up 0.3%. The DAX index in Germany added 0.2%.
 
In the UK, the British unemployment rate fell to a 15-month low of 7.9% in the three month ending August, down from 8.1% as compared to May, said the UK Office for National Statistics. That's the lowest since a rate of 7.8% in March-May 2011.
 
On the currency front, the euro jumped to a one-month high versus the US Dollar after ratings firm Moody’s Investors Service held Spain’s rating a notch above junk grade in a long-awaited decision late the previous day.

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