Sensex down 3 points at 7,304

The market displayed volatility during the trading hours today. After resuming nine points lower over its last close at 7,298 and further inching lower on extended weakness, the Sensex soon rebounded into positive territory as buying commenced in most of the counters.

The Sensex advanced further in the first half to touch a new all-time intra-day high of 7,352 on strong gains in select banking, heavyweights and auto counters.

Emergence of fresh selling pressure in the afternoon trades - led by tech stocks, pharma and other select counters - dragged the markets into the red and the index tumbled below the 7,300-mark in mid-noon trades to touch a low of 7,218 - down 134 points from the day's high.

The Sensex, however, recovered from its losses on renewed buying towards the fag-end, but eventually ended lower at 7,304 - down three points.

The Nifty was up two points at 2,221.

ONGC gained 1.78% (Rs 16) to Rs 941, while ITC shot up 2.32% (Rs 39) to Rs 1,744. Reliance Industries, too, ended higher at Rs 638 - up Rs 5.

ICICI Bank, continuing from its yesterday's spurt, jumped 3.17% (Rs 14) to Rs 467. While SBI, after a mixed outing, finished higher at Rs 718 (up Rs 3), HDFC Bank slipped a per cent (Rs 6) to Rs 658.

Tata Motors flared up 4% (Rs 18) to Rs 467. While Hero Honda moved up 2.69% (Rs 16) to Rs 608, Maruti added 2.14% (Rs 10) to rs 456. Bajaj, however, lost 1.32% (Rs 18) to Rs 1,380.

ACC rose 2.16% (Rs 9) to Rs 421.

Other cement majors also ended in the green with steady gains.

Infosys tumbled 4.12% (Rs 95) to Rs 2,220, after its 37% rise in consolidated net failed to meet the market expectations. While TCS crashed 3.15% (Rs 42) to Rs 1,285, Wipro shed 2% (Rs 15) to Rs 702. Satyam was down a per cent (Rs 4) at Rs 496.

HDFC declined 2.97% (Rs 28) to Rs 902.

Dr. Reddy's dropped 2.78% (Rs 22) to Rs 758, and Ranbaxy slipped a per cent (Rs 9) to Rs 1,052. Cipla, however, jumped 2.15% (Rs 7) to Rs 326.

Yes Bank, which got listed at Rs 65 (a premium of 44% over its issue price of Rs 45) on the BSE, rose to a high of Rs 70 during the intra-day trades. The counter, however, shed gains on profit-taking to close at Rs 61 on heavy volumes of over 2.61 crore on the BSE.