The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 35 points at 5,832, and moved in a narrow range till noon. Renewed buying in heavyweights like Reliance and Infosys saw the index zoom past the 5,900-mark and touch a high of 5,921.
Profit-taking was swift and the index plunged to a low of 5,763 - an intra-day swing of 158 points. Selective buying at lower levels saw the Sensex finally close with a loss of five points at 5,792.
While 23 index stocks declined, seven managed to garner gains today. Declining scrips clocked a higher volume of 2.14 crore for Rs 866 crore as against advancing volume of 1.29 crore for Rs 636 crore.
Reliance advanced 4.5% (Rs 24) to Rs 561. ITC declined a per cent (Rs 12) to Rs 981. HLL was down a notch at Rs 206.
Infosys was up Rs 24 at Rs 5,513. Satyam dropped Rs 8 to Rs 363. Wipro was flat at Rs 1,753.
ONGC firmed up more than 4% (Rs 33) to Rs 782. MTNL was up 2% at Rs 137. SBI slipped Rs 9 to Rs 528. HPCL was down Rs 6 at Rs 438. BHEL also declined.
ACC dropped nearly 4% (Rs 10) to Rs 242. Gujarat Ambuja declined 3% (Rs 10) to Rs 301. Grasim was up Rs 3 at Rs 1,015.
Bajaj was down Rs 14 at Rs 1,142. Hero Honda and Tata Motors also finished with losses.
ICICI Bank, which had rallied sharply yesterday, was down 2% at Rs 297. HDFC and HDFC Bank also declined.
Polaris dropped nearly 4% to Rs 242. NIIT was down 4% at Rs 266. I-flex, HCL Tech, Mastek and Digital also declined.
Mphasis, however, advanced 7% (Rs 45) to Rs 775. Moser Baer was up 4% at Rs 350.
HMT tanked 8% to Rs 24. SAIL was down 5% at Rs 51. BPCL slipped 2% to Rs 449. ITI, HMT, RCF, BEML and STC also lost ground.
GAIL, however, jumped 7% to Rs 257. Bongaigon moved up 6% to Rs 87. IOC was up a notch at Rs 451. IBP, Chennai Petro and MRPL also closed marginally higher today.
PSU bank scrips finished on a mixed note. Oriental Bank dropped 4% to Rs 256. Dena, Canara, Allahabad, Syndicate, Union and UCO Bank also closed in negative zones.
PNB added 3% to Rs 236. Corporation was up 2% at Rs 243. SBB&J, BoB, Vijaya and BoI also moved up today.
Matrix, which announced a big deal yesterday, was up 2% (Rs 30) at Rs 1,536. Jindal Steel zoomed 9% (Rs 52) to Rs 602. Sterling Biotech added 6% to Rs 99.
GTL tanked 11% to Rs 105. India Cement was down 8% at Rs 45. Balaji Telefilms dropped 5% to Rs 100.
