Taking a cue from yesterday's close, the markets opened with a positive gap of 23 points at 4,961. It however, dropped into the red soon after.

Range-bound movements persisted thereafter, which saw the indices moving in a narrow range. A fresh bout of buying in the afternoon session saw the index move into the positive zone and touch an intra-day high of 4,973 towards the closing stages. The Sensex finally ended the day with a gain of 24 points at 4963. The Nifty also ended 8 points higher at 1,550.

Reliance advanced 2.5% (Rs 11) to Rs 456. ITC was up marginally at Rs 894 while HLL was down 1.3% (Rs 2) at Rs 135.

Infosys was down a tad (Rs 19) at Rs 5,182. Satyam dropped 3% (Rs 10) to Rs 308 while Wipro ended the day with a gain of nearly a percent (Rs 9.50) at RS 1,495.

Bhel advanced a percent (Rs 5) to Rs 465, ONGC was down Rs 3 at Rs 670. HPCL was down marginally at Rs 330 while MTNL was up marginally at Rs 120. SBI was down half a percent at Rs 483.

Bharti Tele-Ventures along with Reliance Energy were the biggest gainers among the Sensex stocks as it zoomed nearly 4% Rs 146 and Rs 561, respectively. Maruti advanced 3.5% (Rs 13) to Rs 398 while Tata Motors gained 3% (Rs 11) to Rs 407.