The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 11 points at 5,937. Cautious trend prevailed in the opening session as the index was largely range-bound on sluggish trading. The afternoon trades saw huge activity, as extreme volailtiy in the markets saw the index touch a high of 5,973 and slip to a low of 5,863 on stock-specific activity.

The Sensex, however, shrugged off its losses at the close, and ended with a small gain of six points at 5,932.

ITC clocked a per cent gain (Rs 9) to Rs 1,005. While Reliance, too, closed up a per cent (Rs 4) at Rs 593, HLL closed up a rupee at Rs 194.

Hindalco at Rs 1,331 (up Rs 35 or 2.73%), BSES at Rs 633 (up Rs 22), HDFC at Rs 667 (up Rs 9 or 1.36%), HDFC Bank at Rs 373 (up Rs 9 or 2.45%) and ICICI Bank at Rs 346 (up Rs 12 or 3.74%) ended at higher levels, after trading mixed during the intra-day trades.

Infosys slumped 2.63% (Rs 149) to close at Rs 5,507. Wipro dropped 1.88% (Rs 31) to Rs 1,601. Satyam, however, notched up 3% gains (Rs 10) to Rs 339.

SBI (down Rs 11 or 1.80% to Rs 612), BHEL (down Rs 14 or 2.30% to Rs 574) and MTNL (down Rs 2 to Rs 135) displayed weak trends. HPCL closed down a tad at Rs 464.

Grasim and ACC were down a per cent each at Rs 1,107 (down Rs 8) and Rs 265 (down Rs 2), respectively. Gujarat Ambuja closed down a rupee at Rs 302. L&T, however, ended marginally higher at Rs 505.

Bajaj slipped 1.82% (Rs 19) to Rs 1,013. Tata Motors and Hero Honda lost a per cent each to Rs 536 (down Rs 5) and Rs 481 (down Rs 3), respectively.

Tisco lost 1.63% (Rs 7) to Rs 416. Tata Power was down a per cent (Rs 4) at Rs 386. Zee declined 3% (Rs 5) to Rs 148.

Dr. Reddy's erased most of its losses on renewed buying, and ended down a per cent (Rs 10) at Rs 1,241. Ranbaxy was down a rupee at Rs 974. Cipla, however, gained a per cent (Rs 9) to Rs 1,172.

Bharti Tele closed up a rupee at Rs 138.