The Sensex opened with a small positive gap of nine points at 9,292, and touched a high of 9,351 in morning deals.

Profit-taking at higher levels saw the index drift into negative zone in noon deals. The index dropped to a low of 9,207 in noon deals - an intra-day swing of 144 points.

After moving up marginally, the Sensex finally closed with a loss of 26 points at 9,257.

The Nifty lost 12 points to close at 2,794.

Bajaj dropped over 2% (Rs 41) to Rs 2,002. Tata Motors [Get Quote] slipped 2% (Rs 14) to Rs 645. While Hero Honda declined Rs 11 to Rs 852, Maruti [Get Quote] was down Rs 2  at Rs 629.

Infosys [Get Quote] dropped Rs 5 to Rs 2,992. While TCS [Get Quote] was down Rs 11 at Rs 1,689, Wipro [Get Quote] declined Rs 5 to Rs 456.

BHEL was down Rs 14 at Rs 1,358. L&T slipped Rs 11 to Rs 1,780.  ONGC [Get Quote] was down Rs 8 at Rs 1,174, and ITC declined Rs 3 to Rs 139.

HDFC [Get Quote] was firm right through the session, and closed with a gain of 1.8% (Rs 22) at Rs 1,190.

SBI [Get Quote] added Rs 7 to Rs 898.  Reliance [Get Quote] moved up Rs 6 to Rs 872.  HLL [Get Quote] was up a rupee at Rs 193.

Grasim [Get Quote] gained Rs 13 to Rs 1,336. NTPC moved up 1.8% (Rs 2) to Rs 110. Dr. Reddy's, Ranbaxy [Get Quote] and Satyam [Get Quote] also finished with gains.