Mirroring weakness in the global markets, the Sensex opened 38 points lower at 14,261, and soon tumbled to a low of 14,201. The index, thereafer, recovered on the back of fresh buying in technology stocks.

Later in the day, the buying focus shifted from technology to private banks and select heavyweights like ITC and Reliance, which saw the index touch a high of 14,337 - up 136 points from the day's low.

The Sensex finally ended on a flat note at 14,303 -- up four points. NSE Nifty ends at 4,215, down 5 points.

The Auto index tumbled nearly 2% to 4910, and the Metal index shed 1.2% to 10,242. The BSE Bankex, however, advanced nearly 1% to 7604.

The market breadth was negative - out of 2,669 stocks traded, 1,492 declined, 1,105 advanced and 72 were unchanged on Friday.

Movers & Shakers

HDFC Bank rallied 3.5% to Rs 1,072, and ICICI Bank added 1.6% to Rs 951.

ITC and Hero Honda advanced over 1% each to Rs 167 and Rs 687, respectively. Reliance was up nearly 1% at Rs 1,699.

Bajaj Auto plunged 8.5% (Rs 214) to Rs 2,287 following a near 7% drop in yesterday's trade. The stock today tumbled to a low of Rs 2,179 in opening trades - down nearly 13%.

Gujarat Ambuja shed 3.5% to Rs 119. NTPC and Dr.Reddy's slipped nearly 2% each to Rs 156 and Rs 666, respectively.

ACC and Hindalco dropped 1.5% each to Rs 875 and Rs 147, respectively.

Tata Motors, Tata Steel and Maruti were down 1% each at Rs 743, Rs 591 and Rs 808, respectively.

Most Active Counters

Bajaj Auto topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 253 crore followed by United Spirits (Rs 174.50 crore), GlaxoSmithKline Pharma (Rs 132 crore), Reliance (Rs 131 crore) and Unitech (Rs 121.30 crore).

Bhagwati Banquets led the volume chart with trades of around 1.10 crore shares followed Reliance Natural (87 lakh), Nagarjuna Fertilisers (86.50 lakh), IFCI (69.30 lakh) and Development Corporation Bank (68.15 lakh).