The markets opened on a positive note at 6,689 and climbed steadily by 30 points thereafter as sentiments were boosted after the Indian ADRs witnessed a strong rally on the US indices.
The Sensex shot up to its day high of 6,772 during the mid-session as heavyweights clocked huge gains especially from the IT, FMCG and PSU counters.
However heavy selling pressure among banking, auto and engineering stocks pulled the Sensex down below the 6,700 mark. The bears took over and Sensex after drifting in a range of 6,685 - 6,690 for sometime in late afternoon was dragged down by another 20 points.
The Sensex has currently settled 37 points higher (from its previous close of 6,670) at 6,708, coming down sharply of the day's high. The Nifty closed with a gain of 2 points at 2,076.
Strong volatility was observed during the fag end of the trading session, as profit booking became the order of the day after a continuous seven-day gain.
FMCG and IT heavyweights, ITC, HLL and Infosys managed to sustain gains but the indices succumbed to the frenzied selling pressure in the auto, banking, pharma, small cap and mid cap counters.