Indian shares recovered to close flat on Tuesday, with gains in metal stocks offsetting declines in other sectors following top consumer China's property-support measures.
The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 rose 0.12% to 22,529.05 points, while the S&P BSE Sensex shed 0.07% to 73,953.31. Both the benchmarks shed about 0.25% each in early trade.
The total market capitalisation of all the BSE-listed stocks rose above $5 trillion for the first time ever in intraday trade, before closing slightly lower.
Indian markets have traded in a narrow range over the last two sessions.
Domestic equities may continue to trade sideways in the coming days until the election results are announced (on June 4), said Sujit Modi, chief investment officer at Bengaluru-based online investment platform Share.Market.
FPIs, who are taking some profits off the table, should come back if election results do not upset markets, as there is a general consensus that this is India's decade, Modi added.
Seven of the 13 major sectoral indexes logged gains, with the metals gaining 3.88%. Since China announced measures to support its ailing property sector and posted better-than-expected industrial data on Friday, the metal index has climbed 6.12% in three sessions.
Hindalco Industries, Tata Steel, JSW Steel added between 3.5% and 4.8% and were among the top five Nifty 50 gainers.
Highest-weighted financial stocks shed 0.3%, while the second heaviest information technology dropped 0.18%.
Worries about U.S. interest rates staying higher for longer after Federal Reserve officials' cautious view on inflation weighed on IT companies, which earn a significant share of their revenue from the U.S.
Consumer company Nestle India fell 1.74%, walking back gains made in the previous session, after the shareholders voted against a royalty hike to Swiss parent Nestle SA.