After swinging in a range of 140 points the Sensex - from a high of 9,956 to a low of 9816 - finally settled with a marginal loss of 15 points at 9,844.
The Nifty closed at 2967, down 4 points.
Cipla was in the star performer of the day following the company's announcement that it will consider a proposal for bonus issue in its board meet on February 11.
The stock skyrocketed to a high of Rs 496, before settling with a significant gain of 11% at Rs 490. Around 20.50 lakh shares changed hands at the counter.
While Ranbaxy gained 2% at Rs 392, Dr.Reddy's ended a tad lower at Rs 1,174.
Bharti Tele surged nearly 4% to Rs 364.
ACC spurted 3% to Rs 592. BHEL and Tata Power added 2.5% each to Rs 1,840 and Rs 477, respectively.
Hindalco moved up 2.8% to Rs 166.
HLL and Wipro also finished with gains of 1% each at Rs 194 and Rs 528, respectively.
ONGC slumped 3% to Rs 1,185. Larsen & Toubro dropped 2.7% to Rs 2,226.
HDFC, ICICI Bank, Maruti and TCS declined 2% each to Rs 1,360, Rs 578, Rs 728 and Rs 1,636, respectively.
Bajaj Auto at Rs 2,135, Infosys at Rs 2,836 and Reliance Energy at Rs 604 were down over 1% each.