The Sensex closed 19 points lower at 5,954.

The Nifty was down eight points at 1,868.

Infosys, Satyam and Wipro slipped a per cent each to Rs 2,017, Rs 402 and Rs 693, respectively.

Reliance was up a rupee at Rs 545. ITC added Rs 5 to Rs 1,148. HLL finished a per cent lower at Rs 134.

ONGC plunged 1.3% (Rs 11) to Rs 815. HPCL was down Rs 3 at Rs 345.

HDFC Bank declined 1.7% (Rs 8) to Rs 466. SBI was down Rs 3 at Rs 491, and ICICI Bank dropped a rupee to Rs 316.

Cipla gained 1.3% (Rs 4) at Rs 278. While Dr.Reddy's shed Rs 6 to Rs 770, Ranbaxy was down Rs 2 to Rs 1,090.

Auto scrips exhibited a mixed trend. Hero Honda skidded over 2% (Rs 9) to Rs 433. Bajaj Auto was down Rs 3 at Rs 986. Maruti added Rs 3 to Rs 381, and Tata Motors finished Rs 2 higher at Rs 430.

Tata Power rallied 2.5% (Rs 8) to Rs 322. Reliance Energy was up a rupee at Rs 634.

Zee gained Rs 2 at Rs 153, and Bharti Tele was up a rupee at Rs 164.

The BSE PSU index slipped over a per cent to 3,795. While the BSE BANKEX and TECk index were down 0.6% each at 2,945 and 1,600, respectively, the BSE FMCG and Metal indices also posted marginal losses at 953 and 5,173, respectively.