The Sensex began Samvat 2061 with a bang at 5,985 - up 31 points. It soon spurted to an intra-day high of 6,002, but could not sustain above the 6,000-mark.

Continued selling in the markets saw the index slide in today's 75 minute trading session. Heavy selling towards the fag end of the trading session saw the index slip into negative zone to touch an intra-day low of 5,946 - down 56 points from the intra-day high.

The Sensex finally closed with a gain of 10 points at 5,964. The Nifty moved in a range of 1,885-1,867, and ended with a gain of two points at 1,873.

Infosys moved up Rs 9 to Rs 2,025, and Satyam gained Rs 2 at Rs 405. Wipro, however, finished unchanged at Rs 693.

ITC added Rs 2 to Rs 1,150. HLL and Reliance closed flat at Rs 134 and Rs 545, respectively.

Larsen & Toubro gained Rs 5 at Rs 858. Bhel was up Rs 2 at Rs 615.

Bajaj Auto moved up Rs 9 to Rs 993, and Hero Honda added Rs 3 to Rs 438. Tata Motors slipped a rupee to Rs 430, and Maruti finished unchanged at Rs 381.

Tata Power declined a per cent (Rs 4) to Rs 319, and Reliance Energy lost Rs 4 to Rs 633.

HMT zoomed 6.3% to Rs 34.55. Godrej Consumers, Titan, VSNL, TVS Motors, GMDC, MTNL, Aventis Pharma, Century Enka, IDBI, Mirc Electronics, Jindal Steel, D-Link India, Container Corporation, Fertilizers & Chemicals, MICO, Abbott India, BASF India, Apollo Hospitals and Pidilite have rallied 2-4% each.

Crompton Greaves plunged 4% (Rs 10) to Rs 247. Asahi India, GE Shipping, Videocon International, Vijaya Bank, SKF India, Kotak Bank, Bongaigaon Refinery, Finolex Cables and Alstom Project have declined 1-2% each.

The BSE Auto, TECk, PSU and Metal indices posted gains at 2,404, 1,607, 3,810 and 5,189, respectively. The BSE BANKEX and FMCG index finished flat at 2,947 and 953, respectively.

SAIL topped the volume chart on the BSE, and the counter has clocked a volume of around 27.72 lakh shares followed by NTPC (16.51 lakh), Reliance (8.87 lakh), Tisco (7.54 lakh) and Ispat Industries (6.79 lakh).

Reliance topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 48.57 crore on the BSE. It was followed by Tisco (Rs 23.23 crore), Infosys (Rs 22.54 crore), SAIL (Rs 13.90 crore) and Maruti (Rs 13.61 crore).