The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 30 points at 6,069. The markets witnessed extreme volatility during the trading hours as bullish sentiment following strong gains in PSUs, tech and other old economy stocks in the opening session lifted the index above the 6,100 levels to a high of 6,121.

The afternoon trades, however, saw a sharp turnaround, as selling gained momentum towards the closing hours, which saw the index slip below the 6,000 levels to touch a low of 5,916.

The Sensex, finally on an unabated selling pressure in cement, heavyweight, and tech stocks, ended with a huge loss of 95 points at 5,944. The Nifty also slipped from higher levels to finish 28 points down at 1,927.

ITC (down Rs 30 or 3% to Rs 1,029) and Reliance (down Rs 11 or 2% to Rs 568) contributed to the downfall of the index. HLL closed down a rupee at Rs 213.

Infosys remained weak through the session, and dropped 4% (Rs 238) to Rs 5,655. While Wipro shed nearly 4% (Rs 61) to Rs 1,676, Satyam declined 5% (Rs 19) to Rs 358

BHEL and HPCL came under profit-taking towards the closing hours, and ended up a rupee each at Rs 535 and Rs 453, respectively. MTNL lost 2% (Rs 4) to Rs 148. SBI was down a per cent (Rs 4) at Rs 597.

Grasim (down Rs 30 or 3% to Rs 999), L&T (down Rs 3 to Rs 521), Gujarat Ambuja (down Rs 11 or 3% to Rs 308) and ACC (down Rs 11 or 4% to Rs 262) ended with steep losses.

Cipla lost 2% (Rs 25) to Rs 1,325. While Ranbaxy closed down a per cent (Rs 9) at Rs 1,085, Dr. Reddy's was down Rs 4 at Rs 1,442.

Hero Honda slipped nearly 2% (Rs 7) to Rs 444, after remaining in positive zone for better part of the trading session. While Tata Motors ended weak with a loss of Rs 3 at Rs 452, Bajaj was marginally down Rs 3 at Rs 1,105.

ONGC slumped 5% (Rs 51) to Rs 884.