Alternate bouts of buying and selling on the day of expiry of the July derivatives contract and anticipation of a spike in inflation rate, which was due for release later in the day, prompted key equity indices to end almost a flat note on Thursday.

The 30-share Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex, after trading in the range of 200 points, closed on a positive note at 14,355.75 points, posting a gain of 68.54 points or 0.48%, while the broader Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) ended at 4,332.95 points, gaining 19.40 points or 0.45%.

Dealers said lack of conviction by investors for the short term saw rollovers for the Nifty contracts around 65%, much lower than that observed in the past few expires. The overall markets rollovers were equally subdued at 70%.

The Nifty July futures ended the day flat with respect to the spot price at a premium of 1.25 points at 4,332.15 points while rollover of short positions led the Nifty August futures to close at 4,318.93 points, a discount of 11 points with respect to the cash price.

Viral Mehta, director, Mehta Securities, said, ?The rollovers were better-than-expected and huge long positions were rolled over in the pharma and FMCG sectors. On the stock specific levels, select banking stocks witnessed long rollovers.

The markets are very much in the consolidation phase, though much depends on the oil prices, which seems to be fluctuating by $4 per barrel a day. This is a matter of concern?

The volatility index of the NSE, which is a measure of markets expectation of volatility in the near term, saw a fall of 24.48% at 39.06% against a massive 51.72% in the previous trading session.

The figures for inflation, measured in terms of wholesale price index after giving some relief in the previous week, once spiked again on Thursday to 11.98% for the week ended July 19 against 11.89% in the previous week. ?Inflation may spiral further in the weeks to come but slowly, it is expected to settle down as the measures taken by the RBI and the government fructifies. The markets are expected to move sideways till then, before we see any momentum in a positive direction,? added Mehta.