A sharp slump in early deals saw the index open with a loss of 23 points at 4,868. The markets displayed negative trends through the session on an unabated selling pressure across the board, and dragged the index to a low of 4,801 by early noon deals.

While old economy stocks continued to reel under sustained selling pressure in the afternoon trades, selective tech and cement stocks bounced from their low's on fresh buying support towards the closing bell.

The Sensex, however, still ended weak for the third consecutive day, with a loss of 67 points at 4,824. The Nifty also failed to recover from its early losses, and ended 23 points lower at 1,541.

HLL remained weak and ended 2% lower (Rs 4) at Rs 179. Reliance also languished in negative territory through the session, and closed down a per cent (Rs 5) at Rs 460. ITC, however, shrugged off its losses in late noon deals to end up a per cent (Rs 10) at Rs 872.

BHEL at Rs 430 (down Rs 6), SBI at Rs 459 (down Rs 6), HPCL at Rs 338 (down Rs 8) and MTNL at Rs 112 (down Rs 2) displayed southward trend through the session.

Dr. Reddy's closed off-lows with a loss of a per cent (Rs 19) at Rs 1,219. While Cipla was down Rs 5 at Rs 1,113, Ranbaxy ended with a marginal loss of Rs 2 at Rs 994.

Grasim (down Rs 30 or 3% to Rs 838), L&T (down Rs 19 or 5% to Rs 369) and ACC (down Rs 5 or 2% to Rs 219) displayed downward trend on steep selling pressure. Gujarat Ambuja, however, gained towards the fag-end on buying support, and closed up a per cent (Rs 3) at Rs 271.

Bajaj, after a steady opening, slipped in mid-morning deals, and remained weak to closed with a per cent loss (Rs 7) at Rs 924. While Hero Honda lost 2% (Rs 7) to Rs 377, Tata Motors was down a per cent (Rs 6) at Rs 378.

Infosys moved into positive territory in the afternoon trades, and held gains till the end to close up a per cent (Rs 47) at Rs 4,661. Wipro, which firmed up towards the close on buying support, however, ended down a rupee at Rs 1,413. Satyam closed down a per cent (Rs 4) at Rs 311.

Zee dropped 5% (Rs 7) to Rs 129.