Indian shares ended marginally higher on Monday after oscillating all day as consumer and pharmaceutical gains were offset by losses in metals, auto and public sector banks.
The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index ended 0.04% higher at 18,109.45 and the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex was up 0.05% to 60,718.7.
Among sectoral gainers, Nifty rose as much as 1.13% before ending 0.94% higher, boosted by shares of alcohol products maker Radico Khaitan and cigarettes-to-hotels conglomerate ITC Ltd ITC.NS that ended 2.47% and 2.23% higher, respectively.
The Nifty Pharma Index climbed 1.61% and ended 1.45% higher, led by Laurus Labs and Gland Pharma , which rose 8.53% and 5.16%, respectively.
Apollo Hospitals jumped to a near two-month high of 10.2% after the company's net profit and revenue rose in the September quarter.
Other gainers on the indexes included government-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation , which ended 2.04% higher, after reporting a near seven-fold jump in second-quarter net profit, and Power Grid Corporation of India , which closed 3.46% higher.
Metal stocks ended 1.82% lower, led by losses in Hindalco , Tata Steel TISC.NS and Coal India COAL.NS , all down between 2.7% and 4.3%.
The Indian coal mining company was weighed down by both soft quarterly results and an international deal at the U.N. climate talks in Glasgow to reduce coal use.
Indian cosmetics-to-fashion platform FSN E-Commerce Ventures Ltd , which owns the Nykaa brand, ended 3.3% lower after reporting a 96% slump in quarterly net profit in its first earnings report after market debut.
SoftBank-backed PolicyBazaar's parent PB Fintech rose as much as 27% in its market debut as investors bet on India's under-penetrated insurance market.
World stock markets edged back towards recent record highs as upbeat economic data from China eased slowdown concerns.
($1 = 74.3620 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Vishwadha Chander in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V and Krishna Chandra Eluri)
