The markets opened with a positive gap of 9 points at 4,972. Range-bound trades in the morning and mid-afternoon session saw the indices moving in a narrow range of 10-30 points.
However, a fresh bout of selling in the afternoon session saw the index touch an intra-day low of 4,945. The Sensex, however, recovered towards the closing stages to finally end with a gain of 1 point at 4,964. The Nifty ended 1 point lower at 1,549.
Reliance was down 1% (Rs 5) at Rs 451. HLL dropped 1.5% (Rs 2) to Rs 133 while ITC was up a rupee at Rs 895.
Infosys gained nearly a percent (Rs 40) to Rs 5,222. Satyam was down Rs 2 at Rs 307 while Wipro ended a rupee lower at 1,494.
MTNL advanced 4.3% (Rs 5.20) to Rs 125.50 while HPCL gained 3.5% (Rs 11.50) to Rs 341.50. Bhel was up nearly 2% (Rs 8) to Rs 472.50 while ONGC ended 2.23% (Rs 15) lower at Rs 655.50.
Maruti zoomed 5% (Rs 20) to Rs 418. Bharti Tele-Ventures gained 2% (Rs 3) to Rs 149. Reliance Energy dropped plummeted 4% (Rs 20.50) to Rs 540. Other auto, pharma and cement scrips ended with mixed gains on the indices.