The 50-share index shuttled between 5,762.92 and 5,693.25 before settling the trade at 5,740.75, a marginal rise of 11.65 points, or 0.20 per cent, over its previous close.
Opening negative following substantially weak overseas cues on the back of downgrading US debt by S&P credit ratings, the market squirmed on lack of direction and drifted further to trade below 5,700-mark.
But, the market found some support and quickly bounced back on low level buying with some short-covering on overnight beaten down sectors like banking, technology, oil&gas and infra helping the key index to end in green. However heavy selling in FMCG sector limited the consolidating momentum.
"Though the fundamentals are worrisome, the market is waiting for the forthcoming Q4 results from heavyweights like TCS and Reliance Industries will pan out," traders said.
IDFC, HCL Tech, BPCL, Cairn, Bharati Airtel, Rcom, GAIL, L&T, Reliance Capital and Sun Pharma were the top gainers from the Nifty.
However, Hero Honda, Grasim, BHEL, Kotak Bank, ITC, Hind Unilever, Dr Reddy`s, PowerGrid, Maruti and Jindal Steel ended with losses.
Total turnover in cash segment fell sharply to Rs 10,826 crore from Rs 13,584 crore yesterday. A total of 6,059.06 lakh shares changed hands in 53,65,223 trades. Market capitalisation stood at Rs 67,41,225 crore.