Sensex drops 12 points to 6,443

The markets witnessed another round of volatile trading session on Thursday.

The Sensex, after a flat opening at 6,456, notched up significant gains to pierce the 6,500-mark in early trades. After clocking a high of 6,515, the markets turned weak and languished in negative territory on sluggish trading in most of the counters.

Fresh selling pressure in late noon trades dragged the index to a low of 6,413, before sharp movement in the share prices saw it display a mixed trend towards the fag end of the trading session.

The Sensex, after displaying an intra-day movement of 102 points, finally ended 12 points lower at 6,443. The Nifty, too, ended bearish at 2,015 - down 11 points.

ONGC remained weak through the session and dropped 1.30% (Rs 11) to Rs 851.

HDFC Bank lost 1.21% (Rs 6) to Rs 525, and closed down a tad at Rs 391. SBI, however, ended in the green at Rs 666 - up Rs 8 or 1.18%.

Wipro dropped 1.61% (Rs 11) to Rs 646. Infosys at Rs 2,159 (down Rs 3) and Satyam (down Rs 2 to Rs 388)

ended at subdued levels.

Ranbaxy tumbled 2.27% (Rs 24) to Rs 1,054. Cipla lost 2.17% (Rs 6) to Rs 255, while Dr. Reddy's ended flat at Rs 754.

Bajaj came off its lows to end down a per cent (Rs 8) at Rs 1,030. While Tata Motors declined 1.56% (Rs 7) to Rs 416, Hero Honda was down Rs 4 at Rs 543. Maruti, however, closed up a notch at Rs 412.

Hindalco slumped 2% (Rs 27) to Rs 1,300, and HDFC declined 1.50% (Rs 18) to Rs 691. While Reliance Energy slipped a per cent (Rs 5) to Rs 532, Tata Power ended marginally weak at Rs 341 - down Rs 2.

Reliance, however, gained 1.26% (Rs 7) to Rs 560. While ITC soared 2.81% (Rs 36) to Rs 1,321, HLL was up a rupee at Rs 135.

Grasim and ACC were up a per cent each at Rs 1,227 (up Rs 6) and Rs 360 (up Rs 4), respectively. Gujarat Ambuja, however, dipped 1.80% (Rs 7) to Rs 405.