Key equity benchmarks wiped off majority of the gains in last hour of session and ended marginally higher. Gains in pharma stocks were negated by weakness in auto stocks. The Nifty struggled to hold the 11,100-mark and ended below that level.

The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rose 51.15 points or 0.14% to 37,401.48, as per the provisional closing data. The Nifty 50 index rose 5.9 points or 0.05% to 11,053.70, as per the provisional closing data.

The market breadth was almost even. On the BSE, 1275 shares rose and 1210 shares fell. A total of 159 shares were unchanged. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.2%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.47%.

On equity front, Bharti Infratel (up 3.23%), Tech Mahindra (up 1.67%) and Axis Bank (up 1.45%) powered indices higher.

Grasim (down 2.69%), Indiabulls Housing Finance (down 2.68%), Power Grid Corp of India (down1.92%) and GAIL (India) (down 1.66%) were top losers.

Shares of Spandana Sphoorty Financial made a tepid debut on exchanges. On BSE, Spandana Sphoorty Financial closed at Rs 855.65 discount of 0.04% over the initial public offer price of Rs 856. The stock debuted at Rs 824, discount of 3.73% to the initial public offer (IPO) price. The stock hit an intraday high of Rs 865 and an intraday low of Rs 690.

Auto stocks witnessed selling after the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) today released the monthly vehicle registration data for July 2019. Eicher Motors (down 1.49%), Mahindra and Mahindra (down 1.36%), Hero MotoCorp (down 1.28%), TVS Motor Company (down 1.19%), Bajaj Auto (down 0.99%), Escorts (down 0.7%) and Tata Motors (down 0.37%) declined.

For the month of July, overall sales continued to be negative at 6%, a drop of 5% in 2-wheeler sales, personal vehicles (PV) sales tanked by 11% and commercial vehicles (CV) sales dropped 14%.

On a positive note, overall sales up grew 5% in July 2019 as compared to June 2019. June 2019 had the 2nd lowest volume base this year after February. Postponement of demand seen in June due to deficient rainfall concluded in July, after onset and even spread of monsoon and slight liquidity improvement seen towards July end in banking system contributed also, towards this MoM uptick in sales. FADA categorised the near-term outlook as "cautiously optimistic''.

HCL Technologies, a leading global IT services company, announced that it has signed MoU with Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) for expansion of Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport (MIHAN) campus in Nagpur. HCL will acquire 90 acres of land adding to the existing state of the art 50 acre campus. The MoU was signed in the presence of Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport & Highways of India. The stock was trading 0.25% higher at Rs 1064.3.

Coffee Day Enterprises was locked in a 5% upper circuit at Rs 66.05 after the company announced debt reduction plans. The company's total debt as on 31 July 2019, excluding Sical and Magnasoft, stood at Rs 3,472 crore while the total debt of Coffee Day Group was Rs 4,970 crore. The company has announced the divestment of Global Village Tech Park (Global Village) held by its subsidiary Tanglin Developments for an aggregate consideration in the range of Rs 2,600-3,000 crore. On receipt of the consideration for the sale of Global Village after payment of required statutory payments, the debt position of Coffee Day Group will reduce around by Rs 2,400 crore. The debt position of Coffee Day Group (excluding Sical and Magnasoft) post repayment of debt out of proceeds from sale of Global Village is expected to be around Rs 1,000 crore in the next 45 days. The company further assured that it is expected to have a comfortable position to service the reduced debt obligations.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries was up 2.45% to Rs 424.9 after the company announced that one of its wholly owned subsidiaries has been granted an exclusive license to a subsidiary of China Medical System Holdings (CMS) to develop and commercialize seven generic products in Mainland China. The collaboration with CMS now covers eight generic products. The total addressable market size for all these eight products is about $1 billion (as per recent IQVIA data) in Mainland China. The initial term of the agreement shall be 20 years from the first commercial sale of the respective products in Mainland China and may be extended for additional three years' as per mutual agreement of the two parties.

Dewan Housing Finance (DHFL) jumped 6.86% to Rs 49.05 on reports that the company and its lenders have agreed on a 3-level resolution plan that includes conversion of debt to equity and issuance of nonconvertible debentures. These steps will reportedly give creditors majority stake in the embattled financier and help resume stalled credit lines. Meanwhile, announced that it will announce its Q1 earnings by 14 September 2019.

Jammu & Kashmir Bank fell 2.65% to Rs 36.8 after the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) investigation reported irregularities in board approvals. As per reports, the case has been registered in a bank-loan fraud worth Rs 350 crore, and searches have been conducted at the Bengaluru office of the bank. The ACB has reportedly said that the management at the corporate headquarters/zonal office, Bengaluru, and officers/officials of J&K Bank, Infantry Road Branch, Bengaluru, had given loans worth crores of rupees to Rawther Spices by passing all norms and procedures.

Overseas, European markets were trading higher while Asian markets closed on a positive note on Monday as hopes of more stimulus from central banks around the world and steps being taken by major economies such as Germany and China soothed investors' fears of a sharp global economic slump.

US stocks rebounded on Friday as news of potential German economic stimulus brought buyers back to the equities market.