Sensex up 15 points at 6,730

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 14 points at 6,729. Healthy buying in most of the old economy stocks propelled the gains of the index to an intra-day high of 6,763 in mid-morning trades.

The market thereafter displayed a fluctuating trend as most of the counters either remained steady or pared gains on profit-taking.

While the market was on a recovery path in the afternoon trades, the sentiment turned bearish by mid-noon trades and the index slipped below the yesterday's close to touch a low of 6,710.

Though a range-bound (positive trend) prevailed thereafter, the Sensex finally, on selective buying support, ended 15 points higher at 6,730. The Nifty ended flat at 2,088.

HLL [ Get Quote ], continuing with its recent upsurge, soared 4.33% (Rs 6) to Rs 149. Reliance and ONGC [ Get Quote ] ended with a per cent gain each at Rs 540 (up Rs 5) and Rs 930 (up Rs 8), respectively. ITC, however, was down a per cent (Rs 8) at Rs 1,591.

ICICI Bank [ Get Quote ] added 1.67% (Rs 7) to Rs 399. While SBI [ Get Quote ] dropped 1.61% (Rs 11) to Rs 660, HDFC Bank [ Get Quote ] lost a per cent (Rs 4) to Rs 536.

Bajaj [ Images ] notched up 2.35% gains (Rs 29) to Rs 1,256, and Hero Honda [ Images ] gained 1.22% (Rs 7) to Rs 560. While Tata Motors [ Get Quote ] logged 1.28% gains (Rs 6) to Rs 438, Maruti [ Get Quote ], however, dipped 1.20% (Rs 6) to Rs 461.

Ranbaxy [ Get Quote ] added 1.22% (Rs 13) to Rs 1,114. Dr. Reddy's and Cipla ended with steady gains at Rs 729 and Rs 292, respectively.

Reliance Energy [ Get Quote ] moved up 2% (Rs 11) to Rs 527, and HDFC was up a per cent (Rs 7) at Rs 768. Hindalco [ Get Quote ] dropped 1.52% (Rs 17) to Rs 1,113. While Tata Power [ Get Quote ] tumbled 2.43% (Rs 9) to Rs 377, Tisco [ Get Quote ] declined 1.82% (Rs 7) to Rs 356.

Infosys [ Get Quote ] lost 1.30% (Rs 29) to Rs 2,221, while Wipro [ Get Quote ] slipped a per cent (Rs 5) to Rs 711. Satyam [ Get Quote ] at Rs 455 (up Rs 2), however, ended with steady gains.

Grasim [ Get Quote ] shed 1.23% (Rs 14) to Rs 1,115, while Gujarat Ambuja [ Get Quote ] slipped a per cent (Rs 2) to Rs 451.