Volatile Sensex closes 85 pts up; broader mkts outperform

ALSO READ See Key Market Stats - Top Gainers/ Losers, Most Actives, Highs/Lows See how Global Markets are trading Indian ADRs

Volatile! That would be the best way to describe today's session ahead of the outcome on Greece's debt deal. The Nifty made many attempts at reaching the 5,400 level but was met with resistance throughout.

Listen in to the accompanying audio for full analysis.

After an extremely fickle last hour, the Nifty closed the day at 5,368 gaining 33 points while the Sensex too put on 84 points to shut shop at 17,707.

The market managed to recover all of yesterday's losses, supported by technology, metals, capital goods stocks, and Reliance and SBI. However, experts remain cautious on the market now after its stunning performance since day one of 2012.

Aditya Agarwal, Senior Derivative Analyst at Way to Wealth said one should wait to make fresh long positions at these levels. According to him, 5400-5450 band is crucial resistance for the Nifty as there has been call writing at 5400 and 5500 level.

Alok Sama, president and founder, Baer Capital Partners feels that it is good time to book profits. He says that the markets are seeing a liquidity-driven rally and he expects this rally to fade going ahead. "One needs to be cautious on the market now," Sama says.

Global markets too were on the higher side on hopes that the Greece debt deal may get done today. Greek officials reportedly have agreed on a draft deal and the proposal will be presented to Greek party leaders today.

Asian markets closed sharply higher; Shanghai and Taiwan climbed over 2-2.4%. Hang Seng, Nikkei and Kospi gained 1-2%. European markets too were up 0.3-1%.

Back home, major frontrunners like Reliance Industries, HDFC, Infosys and TCS rose 1.6%; L&T and SBI moved up 1% each.

Shares of Reliance Infrastructure and Hindalco topped the buying list, rising 7% & 5%, respectively. GAIL, DLF, Reliance Power and JP Associates surged 3-4%.

However, Bharti Airtel remained the biggest loser among largecaps for the whole session after it reported less than expected profit after tax in Q3. The country's largest telecom player's December quarter net profit declined 1.5% to Rs 1,027 crore quarter-on-quarter on the back of high interest charges and costs related to the roll-out of 3G network. The stock fell 6.6% to Rs 354 a share.

ONGC too closed 1.3% lower even after posting a better than expected numbers due to royalty. The company posted profits due to a royalty write-back of Rs 3,500 crore from the government.

ICICI Bank fell 1.8%; today Temasek arm sold 1.59 crore shares of the bank via block deal. ITC, HDFC Bank, M&M, Cipla and Tata Steel fell 0.3-0.6%.

The broader markets outperformed equity benchmarks - the BSE Midcap Index was up 1.5% and Smallcap up 0.9%. Advancing shares outnumbered declining by 1721 to 1153 on the BSE.