The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 14 points at 6,729. Healthy buying in most of the old economy stocks propelled the gains of the index to an intra-day high of 6,763 in mid-morning trades.

The market thereafter displayed a fluctuating trend as most of the counters either remained steady or pared gains on profit-taking.

While the market was on a recovery path in the afternoon trades, the sentiment turned bearish by mid-noon trades and the index slipped below the yesterday's close to touch a low of 6,710.

Though a range-bound (positive trend) prevailed thereafter, the Sensex finally, on selective buying support, ended 15 points higher at 6,730. The Nifty ended flat at 2,088.

HLL, continuing with its recent upsurge, soared 4.33% (Rs 6) to Rs 149. Reliance and ONGC ended with a per cent gain each at Rs 540 (up Rs 5) and Rs 930 (up Rs 8), respectively. ITC, however, was down a per cent (Rs 8) at Rs 1,591.

ICICI Bank added 1.67% (Rs 7) to Rs 399. While SBI dropped 1.61% (Rs 11) to Rs 660, HDFC Bank lost a per cent (Rs 4) to Rs 536.

Bajaj notched up 2.35% gains (Rs 29) to Rs 1,256, and Hero Honda gained 1.22% (Rs 7) to Rs 560. While Tata Motors logged 1.28% gains (Rs 6) to Rs 438, Maruti, however, dipped 1.20% (Rs 6) to Rs 461.

Ranbaxy added 1.22% (Rs 13) to Rs 1,114. Dr. Reddy's and Cipla ended with steady gains at Rs 729 and Rs 292, respectively.

Reliance Energy moved up 2% (Rs 11) to Rs 527, and HDFC was up a per cent (Rs 7) at Rs 768. Hindalco dropped 1.52% (Rs 17) to Rs 1,113. While Tata Power tumbled 2.43% (Rs 9) to Rs 377, Tisco declined 1.82% (Rs 7) to Rs 356.

Infosys lost 1.30% (Rs 29) to Rs 2,221, while Wipro slipped a per cent (Rs 5) to Rs 711. Satyam at Rs 455 (up Rs 2), however, ended with steady gains.

Grasim shed 1.23% (Rs 14) to Rs 1,115, while Gujarat Ambuja slipped a per cent (Rs 2) to Rs 451.