The Sensex commenced with a gain of 24 points at 6,060. Buying at lower levels in old and new economy stocks saw the index spurt to an intra-day high of 6,083 in mid-morning deals. The markets turned range-bound and continued till mid-noon deals as sluggish trading in most of the scrips saw little movement from their early gains.

The index, however, buckled towards the close as selling in techs, cement and select PSUs dragged it to a low of 6,019.

The Sensex with an intra-day movement of 64 points, ended nine points down at 6,027.

The Nifty slipped from a high of 1,936 to end with a loss of four points at 1,916.

Infosys drifted into the red at close, and ended down 1.12% (Rs 60) at Rs 5,341. While Satyam shed 1.79% (Rs 6) to Rs 335, Wipro lost 1.14% (Rs 18) to Rs 1,589.

L&T slumped 1.88% (Rs 10) to Rs 546. Grasim lost 1.25% (Rs 15) to Rs 1,173. ACC slipped 1.24% (Rs 3) to Rs 270. Gujarat Ambuja, however, held gains to end 3% higher (Rs 9) at Rs 319.

Hindalco (down Rs 13 to Rs 1,337) displayed weak trends. While Bharti Tele lost 1.60% (Rs 3) to Rs 157, Tisco was down a per cent (Rs 4) at Rs 450. Zee declined 1.65% (Rs 3) to Rs 152.

Reliance ended with a per cent gain (Rs 7) at Rs 604. ITC, too, moved up a per cent (Rs 10) to close at Rs 1,082. HLL, however, dropped 2.70% (Rs 5) to Rs 188.

SBI and BHEL slipped from higher levels to end at Rs 629 (down Rs 4) and Rs 620 (down Rs 3), respectively. HPCL, however, closed with a modest gain of Rs 2 at Rs 477. MTNL closed up a rupee at Rs 140.

Tata Motors and Hero Honda were up a per cent each at Rs 563 (up Rs 4) and Rs 504 (up Rs 6), respectively. Bajaj, however, dipped a per cent (Rs 8) to Rs 984.

Dr. Reddy's and Cipla ended with marginal gains at Rs 1,242 (up Rs 4) and Rs 1,219 (up a rupee), respectively. Ranbaxy, however, was down a mere Rs 3 at Rs 998.

ONGC rose sharply on the back of sustained buying support, and shot up 7.32% (Rs 52) to Rs 769. HDFC added 1.44% (Rs 10) to Rs 671. BSES ended off-highs with a small gain of Rs 2 at Rs 665.