Last-hour buying in heavyweight stocks helped Indian equity markets end in the positive territory Monday, even as a major part of the trading session was marked by weak sentiments and poor appetite for stocks.

The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), a barometer for Indian shares, opened the day on a positive note at 6,202.74 points, compared to the previous close at 6,173.82 points.

It soon shot up to the day's high of 6,232 points. But exhibiting the volatility seen during the past sessions, the index slipped into the red soon after.

At one point, index dipped below the psychologically important, 6,100-point mark at 6,087.55 points as selling pressures continued. Yet, the emergence of buying interest in the final hour helped the Sensex settle higher at 6,194.07 points.

At that level, the key index was up marginally by 20.25 points, or 0.33 percent, over the previous session's close. While 18 shares that comprise the Sensex ended higher, 12 others ended in the red.

"Investors appear to be waiting for some positive signals to emerge from foreign institutional investors (FIIs) who had been the main contributors to the surge in the Sensex to beyond the 6,700 level," said an analyst with a brokerage here.

"But there are concerns over such inflows now and that is keeping the markets down. Otherwise, the fundamentals of the economy and corporate performance are strong. There are also positive triggers from the government," he said.

Finance Minister P.Chidambaram announced Monday noon that to consolidate the centre's excise duty and states' sale tax regimes, a new value added tax (VAT) system would be implemented from April 1 with three tax slabs covering 550 items.

He said gold and silver would attract a tax of one percent and most food items are clubbed under the four percent rate, while all other items would attract a levy of 12.5 percent.

The investor sentiments were also buoyed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's speech at an oil conference in the national capital Sunday in which he said state-run oil firms would be restructured to make them globally competitive.

But weakness persisted in some sectors like pharmaceuticals where traders fear an adverse impact of a government decision to levy tax on their maximum retail price because of reported misuse of taxation provisions.

The top gainer Monday among the Sensex stocks was Tata bower, up 4.73 percent at Rs. 359.50, followed by Associated Cement Companies, up 3.89 percent and Housing Development Finance Corp up 2.92 percent at Rs. 733.

Zee Telefilms, on the other hand led the losers, down 2.11 percent at Rs.153.35, followed by Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, down 2.04 percent at Rs.728.95 and Tata Motors, down 1.60 percent at Rs.475.70.