The markets buckled in early deals to open with a loss of five points at 4,907. The index slipped below the 4,900 levels and remained subdued till early noon deals following weakness in cement, pharma and other select old and new economy stocks to touch a low of 4,883.

Buying commenced in the afternoon trades and gained momentum towards the closing hours as sharp gains in PSUs, tech, auto and select heavyweights fuelled the rally, which saw the index spurt to a high of 4,960.

The Sensex, however, pared gains on selective selling and closed 28 points up at 4,940. The Nifty added 17 points to close at 1,580.

Reliance gained ground in afternoon trades, and moved up a per cent (Rs 5) to Rs 474. ITC closed down a rupee at Rs 860.

SBI (up Rs 8 or 2% to Rs 473), HPCL (up Rs 8 or 2% to Rs 345) and BHEL (up Rs 5 to Rs 456) attracted considerable buying interest.

Hero Honda was on a roll today, and spurted 4% (Rs 17) to Rs 395. Telco, too, rallied sharply on strong buying support, and advanced nearly 5% (Rs 17) to Rs 387. Bajaj, however, remained weak through the session, and lost a per cent (Rs 9) to Rs 924.

Infosys slipped from higher towards the fag-end, and ended off-gains at Rs 4,611 - down Rs 16. While Wipro gained Rs 21 to Rs 1,440, Satyam added nearly 2% (Rs 5) to Rs 318.

Grasim declined Rs 5 to Rs 905, and Gujarat Ambuja was down a rupee at Rs 272 on lacklustre trading. L&T also ended with a marginal loss of Rs 2 at Rs 395. ACC, however, closed up a rupee at Rs 230.

Cipla traded on a subdued note, and slipped further towards the close to finish 2% lower (Rs 20) at Rs 1,117. Dr. Reddy's was down a per cent (Rs 17) at Rs 1,273. Ranbaxy, however, added Rs 12 to Rs 996.