Volatile Indian stock indices swung between gains and losses today as the rupee weakened further and Asian and European stocks came under pressure. The rupee has fallen below 53.7 to a US dollar.

Asian markets ended down close to 1% and higher on weak overseas cues while European stocks, which rose on open, turned lower grappling with debt fears in the member countries.

A hung parliament in Greece and the ouster of Nicholas Sarkozy in France led to renewed fears that the EU fiscal compact will now be in jeopardy. Also, Greek stocks hit a two-decade low yesterday amid a growing view that the nation might move out of the currency bloc later this year.

US stock futures were also trading down.

BSE Sensex: 16,479 down 0.4%

NSE Nifty: 4,974 down 0.5%

The India VIX rose over 23.5 intraday and finally settled at 23.04 up 4%.

The broader markets ended weaker than the Sensex with the BSE Mid-Cap Index down 1% and the BSE Small-Cap index lower by 1.2%.

All the sectoral indices, barring FMCG and IT closed in red.  FMCG rose 2.7% while IT was up 0.2% and Pharma ended nearly unchanged.  Amongst the laggards, Realty led the pack, down 3% followed by Metals, Bankex, Power, PSU, Oil&Gas and Auto.

ITC, Ranbaxy, Bajaj Auto, TCS, IDFC, HCL Tech and Hindalco Industries are among the leading gainers on the Sensex and the Nifty.

JP Associates, SAIL, Grasim, DLF, SBI, M&M, Sterlite Inds, Sesa Goa, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Cairn India, Jindal Steel, ICICI Bank, NTPC, Coal India, Tata Steel, RIL and Bharti Airtel are among the notable losers on both the indexes.

Glenmark Pharma rose 3% to Rs.339.75 after the company’s 4Q net profit rose 33% on year to Rs.1.5bn beating estimates of Rs.1.16bn.

Hanung Toys climbed 3% to Rs.130.90 after its 4Q profit came in at Rs.436.7mn versus Rs.323.2mn in the same period a year ago.

ITC surged 5.6% to close at Rs.240.05 after a government decision to scrap additional duties fueled expectations that the company would benefit from the move. While Citigroup said that the decline in stock price was a buying opportunity, the stock was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Sell’ at Antique Stock Broking.

Lanco Infratech rose to Rs.13.50 earlier in the session after the company was granted relief from the Supreme Court to go ahead with the Lanco Hills development in Hyderabad. However, it ended down 1.2% at Rs.12.83 in a volatile market.

Prism Informatics gained 4.8% and closed at Rs.17.50 after it announced that its founder Dani bought an additional 8.91% stake in company.

Puravankara Projects rose 2.3% to finish at Rs.64.70 after the real estate company’s 4Q net income was recorded at Rs.460.5mn beating estimates of Rs.307mn.

Shriram Transport Finance moved up 1.2% to settle at Rs.513.30 after it said that it planned to raise up to Rs.20bn rupees by the sale of debentures. Citigroup said the company’s longer-term fundamentals were stable.

After rising to Rs.866, Tata Coffee ended lower at Rs.839.15 in a volatile market. The stock climbed earlier after its 4Q group net profit rose to Rs.288mn from Rs.175mn in the same quarter a year ago.

Cipla lost 0.7% and closed at Rs.322.60 on reports that the Pharma company was planning on reducing prices of more cancer drugs. Recently, Cipla has cut the prices of three cancer drugs substantially.

Adani Ports ended down 0.3% after the company received an order from the Gujarat High Court to stop construction work in the SEZ.

ABB declined 1.5% to Rs.746.95 after the company’s Q1 net profit fell 20% on year to Rs. 476.4mn.

Ranbaxy Laboratories advanced 3.8% to Rs. 512.45 after consolidated net profit in Q1 jumped 309.6% on year to Rs. 12.46bn.

M&M fell 3.2% to Rs.655.15 after the company said a fire had broken out at one of the storage areas pertaining to manufacturing of Scorpio/Xylo TCF lines of Nasik Plant 1.

Punjab National Bank lost 2% to close at Rs.767.95 after the ratio of net non-performing assets increased to 1.52% on Mar 31, 2012 from 0.85% on Mar 31, 2011.

RIL settled lower by 1.9% at Rs 695.10 on reports the oil major has reduced estimates for proven gas reserves from its Indian blocks by 6.7% to 3.67 trillion cubic feet.