Renewed buying, thereafter, saw the index rally to a fresh all-time intra-day high of 17,979 (just 21 points shy of the 18,000-mark) - up 248 points from the day's low.

The index, however, could not hold gains and came tumbling down towards the close. The index dropped to a low of 17,709 - down 270 points from the day's peak. The Sensex finally ended almost flat at 17,773 - down four points.

The Nifty closed at 5186, down 21 points.

The BSE Capital Goods index surged over 3% to 15,743. The Bankex, FMCG and PSU indices dropped 2% each to 9225, 2107 and 8341, respectively. The Metal and Realty indices were the other major losers at 14,122 and 9631, respectively.

The market breadth was extremely negative - out of 2,821 stocks traded, 1,828 declined, 935 advanced and 58 were unchanged today.

Index Movers

Larsen & Toubro zoomed 6.7% to Rs 3,089. Bharti Airtel [Get Quote] soared 3.3% to Rs 993.

BHEL surged 3% to Rs 2,153. Reliance gained 2.5% at Rs 2,484.

Reliance Communications [Get Quote] moved up 1.6% to Rs 645, and Bajaj Auto [Get Quote] added 1.3% to Rs 2,612.

And The Shakers

NTPC plunged over 5% to Rs 214. Hindalco [Get Quote] and Tata Steel [Get Quote] slumped 3.7% each to Rs 169 and Rs 833, respectively.

ITC, ACC and Tata Motors [Get Quote] slipped around 3% each to Rs 179, Rs 1,177 and Rs 776, respectively.

ICICI Bank [Get Quote] shed 2.3% to Rs 1,037. Reliance Energy [Get Quote], Ranbaxy [Get Quote], ONGC [Get Quote] and SBI [Get Quote] dropped 2% each to Rs 1,447, Rs 433, Rs 966 and Rs 1,863, respectively.

HDFC [Get Quote] declined 1.6% to Rs 2,455. Satyam [Get Quote] and Grasim [Get Quote] were down 1.3% each to Rs 444 and Rs 3,544, respectively.

Dazzling Debut

Power Grid listed at a 63% premium at Rs 85. The stock touched a high of Rs 109, and finally ended at Rs 101 - a premium of 94% on Day 1 on the BSE.

Value & Volume Toppers

Debutant Power Grid topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 1,030.50 crore followed by Reliance (Rs 308.80 crore), Reliance Communications (Rs 248 crore), Reliance Energy (Rs 213.50 crore) and Larsen & Toubro (Rs 208.70 crore).

Power Grid led the volume chart with trades of around 9.97 crore Ispat Industries [Get Quote] (5.30 crore), Himachal Futuristic (1.61 crore), IFCI (1.49 crore) and Nagarjuna Fertilisers (1.49 crore).