The Sensex, after opening flat at yesterday's close of 5,842, touched an intra-day high of 5,873 in early deals following gains in select old and new economy stocks. The markets failed to gain momentum therafter, as sluggish trading in most of the sectors kept the index in a range-bound (positive zone) mode till early noon deals.
The sentiment, however, turned bearish in mid-afternoon trades as across-the-board selling dragged the index below the 5,800-mark to a low of 5,769.
The Sensex pared losses on selective buying towards the closing hours, and ended the three day winning streak with a loss of 26 points at 5,816. The Nifty declined 16 points to close at 1,844.
While 11 Sensex stocks advanced, 19 declined today. Advancing shares registered a volume of 1.74 crore for Rs 995.45 crore, and declining shares accounted for a volume of 1.88 crore amounting to Rs 677.99 crore.
HLL ended weak for a second consecutive session with a loss of 4% (Rs 7) at Rs 158. While Reliance lost a per cent (Rs 6) to Rs 574, ITC was down Rs 3 at Rs 1,168.
Bajaj declined 3.81% (Rs 37) to Rs 924. Tata Motors (down Rs 13 or 2.37% to Rs 524) ended with steep losses. Hero Honda (down Rs 4 to Rs 521) also finished at lower levels.
Gujarat Ambuja and ACC lost 2% each to close at Rs 308 (down Rs 7) and Rs 264 (down Rs 6), respectively. L&T slipped from higher levels to end with a marginal loss of Rs 3 at Rs 586. Grasim touched an intra-day high of Rs 1,190, and slipped into the red to touch a low of 1,145. The cement major, however, bounced back into the green on renewed buying support to end with a gain of 1.24% (Rs 14) at Rs 1,166.
Cipla lost 1.67% (Rs 21) to Rs 1,225. While Dr. Reddy's slipped a per cent (Rs 10) to Rs 1,014, Ranbaxy was down Rs 4 at Rs 971.
Hindalco at Rs 1,282 (down Rs 51 or 3.84%), HDFC Bank at Rs 383 (down Rs 7 or 1.92%) and Tisco at Rs 429 (down Rs 11 or 2.61%) ended with steep losses. Zee plunged 4.64% (Rs 6) to close at Rs 131.
Infosys, which rose to an intra-day high of Rs 5,373, shed some gains on profit-taking, and ended 2.12% higher (Rs 110) at Rs 5,297. Wipro (up Rs 4 to Rs 1,517) and Satyam (up a rupee to Rs 312) ended with modest gains.
SBI clocked a per cent gain (Rs 6) to close at Rs 605. BHEL, which touched a high of Rs 608 during the intra-day trades, shed gains on profit-taking to end up a rupee at Rs 592. HPCL closed up a tad at Rs 471. MTNL, however, ended down a rupee at Rs 141.
ICICI Bank attracted considerable buying support to end with a decent gain of 4.69% (Rs 13) at Rs 289. ONGC and Reliance Energy ended with a per cent gain each at Rs 760 (up Rs 8) and Rs 809 (up Rs 9), respectively. Tata Power moved up 1.78% (Rs 7) to Rs 377.