The Indian markets ended flat after trading in the narrow range throughout the day amid volatility on the last trading session of the week. The benchmarks Nifty50 and the Sensex managed to close above crucial 18,200 and 61, 200 respectively as the indices staged a bounce back in the last hour to end flat.  

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Nifty ended at 18,255.75, with marginal 2 points loss and the 30 share Sensex shed 12 points to end at 61,223 amid support from IT, realty and health care shares.  

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Tata Consumers, TCS, Infosys, Larsen & Toubro, IOC, HDFC Bank, Tech Mahindra, Ultratech cement, Kotak Bank, HCL Tech, NTPC and Bajaj Finance gained in a sluggish day.   
 
Asian Paints, Axis Bank, Hindustan Unilever, ONGC, UPL, Mahindra and Mahindra, HDFC Limited and Wipro were the top laggards.   
 
Nifty small cap traded higher by over 0.70%, while Nifty Bank declined more than 0.30 per cent. Except for Nifty IT, Consumer Durables and Realty, all sectoral indices closed flat to negative on Friday.   

The Indian market opened on a weak note following nervousness in global markets, however, it managed to erase most of its losses to close flat, supported by positive trends in IT, Realty and Healthcare sectors, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.   

"Fed official's latest comment on a likely rate hike during March triggered selling in global equities. Globally, inflation worries worsened after the US reported a 40-year high CPI inflation reading, while a slower rise in producer prices provided some relief," he added 

Expert sees good opportunity for investors on the buy side as long as Nifty holds above 17,889-mark.  

The positive takeaway was that Nifty ended a tad below the dotted lines and most importantly, shrugging off depressing overnight Wall Street cues, Asian and European cues and also taking rise in oil prices at its stride, said Prashant Tapse, Vice President (Research) at Mehta Equities Ltd. 

"Technically, there is likely to be lots of opportunities on the buy side as long as Nifty stays above 17889-mark. The immediate goalpost on Nifty is seen at its all-time-high at 18605 marks, "added Prashant Tapse.  

Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said the market breadth was inclined towards the advancing side, thanks to buoyancy in midcap and small cap space.  

On Monday, the markets will first react to the results of two heavyweights- HCL Technologies and HDFC Bank in the early trade, he said. "We may see further consolidation in the index however the bias would remain on the positive side. Participants should continue with the “buy on dips” approach and focus on sectors that are trading in sync with the benchmark, Ajit Mishra recommended.  

"The Nifty index opened negative and witnessed some consolidation in the initial half of the session. It negated its higher lows formation of the last five sessions but witnessed smart recovery in the last hour," said Chandan Taparia, Vice President, Analyst-Derivatives, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Limited.  

Taparia said it formed a small bodied Bullish candle on daily scale and has been forming higher highs from the last six sessions. "On weekly frame, it formed a Bullish candle and has been moving upwards from three weeks. Now, it has to hold above 18181, for an up move towards 18,400 levels, whereas support is intact at 18081 and 18000 zones," he added