The Sensex on Friday opened with a positive gap of 17 points at 5,941. Hectic buying in Bharti, ICICI Bank and other select old economy stocks fuelled the rally, which saw the index spurt to an intra-day high of 5,979.

The early noon trades saw the index shedding its gains following profit-taking in select stocks.

The Sensex finished the day with a gain of one point at 5,926. The Nifty also gained three points to close at 1,892.

Bharti, which touched a high of Rs 189 during the intra-day trades, gained 5.48% (Rs 9) to close at Rs 177.

ICICI Bank added 6.90% (up Rs 21) to finish at Rs 319.

Heavyweight, tech and select PSUs ended with losses.

Reliance (down Rs 2 to Rs 567) and HLL (down a rupee to Rs 152) ended weak. ITC was marginally up by Rs 2 at Rs 1,080.

Infosys ended 1.50% down (Rs 81) at Rs 5,304.

BHEL slipped from higher levels to end with a loss of 1.53% (Rs 10) at Rs 620. HPCL also ended lower with a rupee loss at Rs 512. While SBI closed with a marginal gain of Rs 2 at Rs 658, MTNL closed up a tad at Rs 162.

Wipro ended down a per cent (Rs 17) at Rs 1,593. Satyam lost 2.25% (Rs 7) to finish at Rs 324.

Grasim and ACC ended with marginal gains at Rs 1,209 and Rs 286, respectively. While L&T lost a per cent (Rs 6) to Rs 623, Gujarat Ambuja was down a rupee at Rs 336.

Cipla dropped 2.50% (Rs 33) to Rs 1,302. Ranbaxy also ended in the red with a per cent loss (Rs 8) at Rs 1,053. Dr. Reddy's, however, finished 2% higher (Rs 19) at Rs 931.

Reliance Energy dipped 1.23% (Rs 10) to Rs 778. Tata Power and Tisco also ended lower at Rs 414 (down Rs 4) and Rs 409 (down a rupee), respectively. Zee moved up 1.53% (Rs 2) at Rs 149.