The Sensex on Monday opened lower with a loss of seven points at 5,539. Selling pressure gained momentum in mid-morning deals, which saw the index slip below the 5,500-mark to touch an intra-day low of 5,495.

After remaining subdued till early noon deals, the markets -- on the back of renewed buying -- bounced back to touch an intra-day high of 5,579.

The Sensex finally closed with a gain of 42 points at 5,571. The Nifty also added 15 points to finish at 1,762.

Reliance moved up a per cent (Rs 3) to Rs 529. HLL inched up marginally from its early gains to end at Rs 150 - up Rs 2 or 1.11%. ITC, however, was down Rs 3 at Rs 1,067.

SBI notched up 2.55% gains (Rs 15) to close at Rs 608. BHEL rallied sharply on the back of sustained buying support, and shot up 5.24% (Rs 30) to Rs 593. While MTNL added 1.75% (Rs 2) to Rs 125, HPCL closed up a rupee at Rs 488.

Bajaj rose 2.43% (Rs 21) to Rs 893. While Hero Honda moved up 1.87% (Rs 9) to Rs 479, Telco was up 1.44% (Rs 7) at Rs 473.

Hindalco (up Rs 15 or 1.23% to Rs 1,231), ICICI Bank (up Rs 15 or 5.27% to Rs 300), HDFC (up Rs 10 or 1.65% to Rs 622), Tata Power (up Rs 17 or 4.74% to Rs 387) and Zee (up Rs 4 or 3.11% to Rs 129) ended with sharp gains.

Ranbaxy gained 1.92% (Rs 17) to Rs 921. Cipla (up Rs 8 to Rs 1,145) and Dr. Reddy's (up Rs 3 to Rs 978) ended with marginal gains.

Meanwhile, Infosys shed 1.58% (Rs 85) to Rs 5,216. Wipro (down Rs 17 or 1.21% to Rs 1,411) and Satyam (down Rs 7 or 2% to Rs 314) also ended in the red.

L&T came off from its intra-day lows, but still ended 3.32% lower (Rs 19) at Rs 556. ACC closed down a tad at Rs 255. Grasim and Gujarat Ambuja, however, bounced back from their lows to end with marginal gains at Rs 1,049 (up Rs 7) and Rs 300, respectively.