The Sensex on Friday gained 71 points to close at 4,889. The Nifty moved up 26 points to end at 1,521.
The index -- which opened with a loss of 15 points at 4,803 -- soon slipped deep into the red, touching an intra-day low of 4,759. The market displayed a range-bound trend till early noon deals.
The Sensex spurted to an intra-day high of 4,902 towards the closing hours following sharp gains in old economy stocks.
While 24 Sensex stocks advanced, six declined today.
SBI surged 3.69% (Rs 17) to close at Rs 487. ONGC mopped up 2.42% gains (Rs 15) to Rs 651. BHEL added 5.43% (Rs 24) to Rs 471. HPCL jumped 4% (Rs 13) to finish at Rs 327. MTNL was up a rupee at Rs 117.
Reliance logged 1.24% gains (Rs 5) to Rs 434. HLL scaled up 2% (Rs 3) to Rs 139. ITC, however, closed down a rupee at Rs 878.
Tata Motors advanced 4.24% (Rs 16) to Rs 391. While Hero Honda was up a per cent (Rs 5) at Rs 480, Maruti added 1.60% (Rs 6) to Rs 384. Bajaj, however, ended with a loss of Rs 3 at Rs 888.
Cement and pharma stocks ended with steady gains.
Grasim added 1.50% (Rs 15) to Rs 1,040. While Gujarat Ambuja gained 1.62% (Rs 5) to Rs 288, ACC was up 1.12% (Rs 3) at Rs 244.
Dr. Reddy's moved up 1.64% (Rs 13) to Rs 801. While Cipla gained 1.93% (Rs 4) to Rs 230, Ranbaxy was up 1.11% (Rs 11) at Rs 1,006.
HDFC rose 2.95% (Rs 17) to Rs 583. Reliance Energy (up Rs 16 or 3.11% to Rs 525) and Tisco (up Rs 18 or 5.91% to Rs 315) ended the day with gains. Zee also closed firm at 134 - up Rs 4 or 3%.
Tech majors largely finished with losses. Infosys (down Rs 13 to Rs 5,219) and Satyam (down a rupee to Rs 309) ended on a weak note. Wipro notched up 2.84% gains (Rs 41) to Rs 1,502.
Bharti dropped 3.36% (Rs 5) to Rs 132. Tata Power also ended weak with a loss of 2.42% (Rs 6) at Rs 240.
