The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 76 points at 13,973, and zoomed past the 14,000-mark in early deals to hit a high of 14,046.
Profit-taking at higher levels saw the index drift lower in late morning deals, and drop to a low of 13,879 - an intra-day swing of 167 points.
After moving in a narrow range for most part of the session, the Sensex finally closed with a marginal gain of 31 points at 13,928.
The Nifty closed at 4,085, up 2 points.
The broad market sentiment was bearish - out of 2,629 scrips traded, 1,385 declined and 1,162 logged gains today.
INDEX GAINERS & LOSERS Tat Steel zoomed over 4% (Rs 23) to Rs 558.Reliance Energy gained over 2% to Rs 523, and Reliance Communications was up nearly 2% at Rs 465.
ONGC gained over 1% to Rs 933. HDFC also gained over 1% to Rs 1,670.
Satyam was up nearly a per cent to Rs 481. Infosys was up Rs 12 (0.6%) at Rs 2,067.
Last-minute buying saw Reliance close with a gain of Rs 13 at Rs 1,554.
ITC dropped over 2.6% to Rs 156. HLL slipped 1.6% to Rs 202. SBI declined Rs 15 (1.4%) to Rs 1,060.
Bajaj was down over 1% (Rs 33) to Rs 2,409. Maruti and Tata Motors also slipped today.
MOST ACTIVE COUNTERS
Gujarat Ambuja was the most active counter with a turnover of Rs 349 crore followed by Tata Steel (Rs 126 crore), Unitech (Rs 121 crore), Phoenix Mills (Rs 120 crore) and Advanta (Rs 97 crore).
