Early sell-off across the board saw the index slip to a low of 4,910 and persisted with its weakness till early noon deals on extended selling pressure.

The Sensex, however, bounced from its low's on sustained buying support in most of the sectors, and spurted to a high of 5,018, before finally winding up the day with a gain of 27 points at 4,998. The Nifty, too, drifted into positive territory, and finished with a small gain of two points at 1,594.

HLL traded on a mixed note, and closed up a per cent (Rs 3) at Rs 183. Reliance also ended in the gainers list with a rupee gain at Rs 482. ITC, however, traded in a narrow range on lacklustre trading, and was down Rs 2 at Rs 862.

New entrants - ONGC, Wipro, Tata Power, Bharti Tele and HDFC Bank largely finished with gains today. ONGC at Rs 659 (up Rs 18 or 3%), Tata Power at Rs 263 (up Rs 16 or 6%) and HDFC at Rs 310 (up Rs 5) attracted considerable buying interest. Bharti Televentures, however, closed down a rupee at Rs 84.

Grasim bounced from its low's and moved up 2% (Rs 22) to Rs 912. While Gujarat Ambuja added Rs 2 to Rs 279, ACC closed up a rupee at Rs 230. L&T, however, ended off-gains on selling pressure to Rs 408 - down Rs 6.

HPCL (up Rs 2 to Rs 336) ended with steady gains. SBI and MTNL closed up a tad each at Rs 477 and Rs 113, respectively. BHEL, however, ended in the red at Rs 452 - down Rs 2.

Hero Honda ended with sharp gains at Rs 369 - up Rs 7 or 2%. Tata Motors closed up a rupee at Rs 371. Bajaj remained weak through the session, and was down a per cent (Rs 13) at Rs 900.

Hindalco at Rs 1,222 (up Rs 39 or 3%), BSES at Rs 477 (up Rs 13 or 3%) and Tisco at Rs 369 (up Rs 4) closed at higher levels. ICICI Bank, however, closed down a per cent (Rs 2) at Rs 241.

Dr. Reddy's at Rs 1,286 (up Rs 15), Ranbaxy at Rs 1,007 (up Rs 9) and Cipla at Rs 1,152 (up a rupee) ended with steady gains.

Infosys (down Rs 28 to Rs 4,934) and Wipro (down Rs 6 to Rs 1,420) displayed negative trends through the session. Satyam, however, on a late bout of buying support, ended up a per cent (Rs 5) at Rs 333.