The Sensex commenced with a positive gap of nine points at 5,824. Early volatility in the markets saw the index soon erase its gains, as selling pressure in most of the sectors dragged it to an intra-day low of 5,784.

Steady buying emerged in select stocks and the market soon wiped out its losses by early noon deals, which saw the index remain firm thereafter. Soon after touching an intra-day high of 5,784 in mid-noon trades, the markets trimmed most of its gains towards the closing hours due to profit-taking in select old and new economy stocks.

The Sensex snapped the two day's losing streak with a gain of 23 points at 5,838. The Nifty also ended higher at 1854 - up five points.

While 18 Sensex stocks advanced, 12 declined today. Advancing shares accounted for a volume of 1.65 crore amounting to Rs 807.84 crore, and declining shares registered a volume of 1.21 crore for Rs 675.74 crore.

Heavyweight and PSU stocks ended on a mixed note.

BHEL (up Rs 8 or 1.23% to Rs 636), HPCL (up Rs 3 to Rs 522) and MTNL (up a rupee to Rs 138) ended with steady gains. SBI, however, was down Rs 2 at Rs 623.

HLL was up 1.19% (Rs 2) at Rs 149. ITC and Reliance, however, ended with marginal losses each at Rs 1,091 and Rs 573, respectively.

ONGC attracted considerable buying support today, and mopped up 5.20% gains (Rs 44) to close at Rs 888. Reliance Energy (up Rs 8 to Rs 782) and Tisco (up Rs 7 or 1.87% to Rs 400) also moved up.

While auto majors ended at higher levels, tech stocks slipped from higher levels to finish in the red.

Hero Honda added 1.77% (Rs 9) to Rs 513. While Bajaj was up 1.12% (Rs 10) at Rs 888, Tata Motors also clocked a per cent gain (Rs 4) to close at Rs 502.

Infosys, which had a mixed outing during the intra-day trades, ended weaker by Rs 14 at Rs 5,313. Satyam also finished weak with a loss of 1.59% (Rs 5) at Rs 310. Wipro, however, remained firm through the session, and spurted 3.39% (Rs 48) to Rs 1,465.

Cement and pharma majors largely finished with gains today.

Gujarat Ambuja and ACC were up a per cent each at Rs 311 (up Rs 2) and Rs 263 (up Rs 4), respectively. While Grasim ended marginally lower by Rs 3 to Rs 1,136, L&T was down a per cent (Rs 4) at Rs 608.

Ranbaxy (up Rs 16 or 1.53% to Rs 1,044) and Dr. Reddy's (up Rs 6 to Rs 956) ended with gains. Cipla, however, was down a per cent (Rs 8) at Rs 1,179.

HDFC dropped 3.47% (Rs 24) to Rs 664. While Hindalco lost 1.36% (Rs 18) to Rs 1,334, Tata Power declined 1.75% (Rs 7) to Rs 407. Zee also ended weak at Rs 139 - down Rs 2.