The Sensex on Wednesday dropped 46 points to close at 4,795. The Nifty, which touched an intra-day high of 1,532, lost 12 points to end at 1,506.
After opening with a gain of 19 points at 4,860, the index touched an intra-day high of 4,878 in early deals. The market soon slipped into the red and displayed a range-bound trend till mid-noon trades.
While 11 Sensex stocks advanced, 19 declined today.
Reliance slumped 3% (Rs 14) to Rs 430. HLL was down nearly 2% (Rs 2) at Rs 127. ITC, however, attracted buying today, and moved up 1.10% (Rs 10) to Rs 886.
Infosys scaled down 1.15% (Rs 64) at Rs 5,523. Wipro (down Rs 9 or 1.67%) ended on a bearish note. Satyam declined 1.31% (Rs 4) to Rs 305.
Bajaj shed 2% (Rs 18) to Rs 884. Hero Honda and Tata Motors were down a rupee at Rs 507 and Rs 380, respectively. Maruti, however, was up 1.59% (Rs 6) at Rs 403.
Cipla lost 2.67% (Rs 6) to Rs 211. While Ranbaxy dipped 1.39% (Rs 13) to Rs 909, Dr. Reddy's was marginally up by Rs 3 at Rs 735.
HDFC dropped 3.15% (Rs 17) to Rs 516. Hindalco lost 1.75% (Rs 18) to Rs 996. ICICI Bank was down nearly 2% (Rs 4) at Rs 244. Reliance Energy was down a per cent (Rs 6) at Rs 566. Tisco also ended with a loss of 1.57% (Rs 5) at Rs 301.
MTNL surged to a high of Rs 138 on late buying support, and finally ended 5.69% higher (Rs 7) at Rs 132.
SBI and HPCL added Rs 2 to Rs 431 and Rs 336, respectively. ONGC and BHEL, however, were down Rs 2 at Rs 629 and Rs 502, respectively.
Grasim moved up 1.65% (Rs 16) to Rs 1,010. ACC was up a rupee at Rs 242. Gujarat Ambuja closed up a tad at Rs 284.