The Sensex opened 22 points higher over its yesterday's close at 4,837. Selective buying in old and new economy stocks lifted the index to an intra-day high of 4,864 in early deals.

The markets soon lost ground following the emergence of profit-taking in most of the counters, and the index by early noon deals slipped below the 4,800-mark to an intra-day low of 4,772.

Sluggish trading in most of the counters saw the markets display a range-bound trend through the afternoon trades, and the Sensex finally wrapped up the session with a loss of 26 points at 4,789.

The Nifty also ended at lower levels at 1,495 - down six points to its yesterday's close.

While only eight Sensex stocks advanced, 22 declined today. Advancing shares accounted for a volume of 20 lakh for Rs 156.85 crore, and declining shares logged a volume of 2.54 crore amounting to Rs 839.71 crore.

Heavyweight and cement stocks ended on a weak note.

Reliance ended with a per cent loss (Rs 5) at Rs 446. HLL was down a rupee at Rs 128. ITC, however, closed up a tad at Rs 885.

Grasim slumped 3.33% (Rs 31) to Rs 904. While ACC lost 3.55% (Rs 8) to Rs 230, Gujarat Ambuja declined 2% (Rs 6) to Rs 266.

PSU frontliners finished on a divergent note.

HPCL shed 3.50% (Rs 12) to Rs 324. While MTNL dipped 1.57% (Rs 2) to Rs 128, SBI was down Rs 2 at Rs 442. ONGC and BHEL, however, added 2% each to Rs 651 (up Rs 13) and Rs 470 (up Rs 9) respectively.

HDFC plunged 4% (Rs 24) to Rs 565. Hindalco and Tata Power were down a per cent each at Rs 955 (down Rs 10) and Rs 234 (down Rs 3), respectively. Tisco was down 1.58% (Rs 5) at Rs 283.

ICICI Bank, however, added 1.86% (Rs 5) to Rs 257. HDFC Bank was up a per cent (Rs 3) at Rs 369.

While auto and tech pivotals largely finished with losses, pharma stocks had a mixed outing today.

Maruti tumbled 2.76% (Rs 11) to Rs 383. While Hero Honda lost 1.47% (Rs 7) to Rs 475, Tata Motors was down 1.49% (Rs 6) at Rs 390. Bajaj (down Rs 4 to Rs 888) ended on a subdued note.

Infosys logged 1.16% gains (Rs 59) to Rs 5,143. While Satyam slipped a per cent (Rs 3) to Rs 289, Wipro also ended weak with a marginal loss of Rs 4 at Rs 1,484.

Cipla dropped 3.57% (Rs 8) to Rs 216. Ranbaxy and Dr. Reddy's ended with modest gains at Rs 998 and Rs 791, respectively.