The Sensex opened flat at yesterday's close of 5,437, but buying in select stocks in early deals lifted the index to an intra-day high of 5,458.
Weakness crept in by late morning deals and gained momentum towards the end as sustained selling pressure in heavyweights, tech, cement, pharma and other select old economy stocks dragged the index to a low of 5,401.
The Sensex did recover from its intra-day low, but still snapped the two-day winning streak to finish with a loss of 19 points at 5,418.
The Nifty, after a mixed outing, ended with a loss of three points at 1,733.
While 14 Sensex stocks advanced, 16 declined today. Advancing shares accounted for a volume of 99 lakh totalling Rs 331.83 crore, and declining shares saw a volume of 1.37 crore for Rs 648.70 crore.
ITC, which gained ground for two consecutive sessions, ended on a lower note with a loss of 2% (Rs 24) at Rs 1,008. Reliance ended on a subdued note with a loss of a per cent (Rs 3) at Rs 502. HLL, however, closed up a tad at Rs 200.
Infosys was weak through the session, and dropped 2% (Rs 111) to Rs 5,122. While Wipro shed around 2% (Rs 28) to Rs 1,659, Satyam was down a per cent (Rs 2) at Rs 352.
Grasim (down Rs 11 to Rs 930), L&T (down a rupee to Rs 435), Gujarat Ambuja (down Rs 2 to Rs 295) and ACC (down a rupee to Rs 225) languished in negative territory through the session.
Dr. Reddy's and Cipla ended off-gains at Rs 1,347 (down Rs 10) and Rs 1,218 (down Rs 3), respectively. Ranbaxy, however, was up Rs 3 at Rs 1,111.
HPCL advanced nearly 2% (Rs 7) to Rs 410. BHEL, which inked a deal worth Rs 27 billion with NTPC, came off-highs to finish up a rupee at Rs 458. MTNL moved up 2% to Rs 119. SBI, however, slipped a per cent (Rs 3) to Rs 476.
Bajaj flared up 3% (Rs 37) to Rs 1,093 on firm buying support. Tata Motors and Hero Honda closed up a per cent each at Rs 423 (up Rs 3) and Rs 389 (up Rs 2), respectively.
HDFC and HDFC Bank closed up a per cent each at Rs 621 (up Rs 4) and Rs 358 (up Rs 2), respectively.
Tisco declined a per cent (Rs 2) to Rs 384. Zee was down a rupee at Rs 143.
Capital goods stocks continued to attract buying. Crompton Greaves zoomed over 17% (Rs 26 ) to Rs 173. Ingersoll Rand advanced 8% to Rs 280. Hindustan Construction was locked at its 20% upper limit at Rs 140 - a gain of Rs 23. Grindwell Norton, Gammon India, Thermax, LMW, ABB, BEL and BEML also finished with gains.
Oil PSUs, too, finished with gains today. BPCL added nearly 4% (Rs 14) to Rs 404. IOC was up more than a per cent at Rs 408. ONGC was up a notch at Rs 676. IBP, MRPL and GAIL also closed in positive zones.
Tech and media scrips also largely closed at higher levels. NIIT gained more than 4% to Rs 252. CMC was also up more than 4% at Rs 624. Polaris was up more than 3% at Rs 215. Digital was up nearly a per cent at Rs 748. Mastek, Mphasis and Moser Baer also inched up. i-flex, however, was down Rs 5 at Rs 853.
ETC advanced 11% to Rs 63. TV 18 gained 4% to Rs 194. Balaji Tele was up a notch at Rs 90.
