The Sensex on Tuesday opened with a gain of 1 point at 4,839, but soon slipped into the red due to selling pressure. The markets soon recovered from its lows as buying emerged in select stocks, which saw the index spurt to an intra-day high of 4,874.

The markets steadily declined from its intra-day highs, losing more ground towards the mid-noon trades as steep selling pressure in old and new economy stocks dragged the index to an intra-day low of 4,802.

The Sensex closed with a gain of four points at 4,841.

The Nifty, which touched an intra-day high of 1,528, ended four points higher at 1,518.

While 18 Sensex stocks advanced, 12 declined today.

Heavyweight, select PSU and auto majors bounced back from their lows to end with steady gains.

Reliance ended with a gain of Rs 2 at Rs 443. HLL held on to its gains to close at Rs 130 - up Rs 2 or 1.65%. ITC was up a per cent (Rs 5) at Rs 877.

HPCL advanced 3.72% (Rs 12) to Rs 334. BHEL was marginally up by Rs 2 at Rs 504. ONGC also ended with modest gains. SBI, however, ended 1.12% lower (Rs 5) at Rs 428.

Hero Honda flared up 4% (Rs 20) to Rs 508. Bajaj was up Rs 3 at Rs 902. Maruti was up a per cent (Rs 4) at Rs 396. Tata Motors, however, was down 1.12% (Rs 5) at Rs 382.

Grasim shot up 2.85% (Rs 27) to Rs 994. Gujarat Ambuja added 1.14% (Rs 3) to Rs 284. ACC closed down a tad at Rs 241.

Cipla was up 1.12% (Rs 2) at Rs 217. Ranbaxy was up a rupee at Rs 922. Dr. Reddy's, however, lost 1.57% (Rs 12) to Rs 732.

Reliance Energy spurted 3.26% (Rs 18) to end at Rs 573. Tisco clocked a per cent gain (Rs 3) at Rs 306. Zee was up 1.13% at Rs 125.

Tech pivotals witnessed selling pressure and ended with losses today.

Infosys, after exhibiting gains for better part of the trading session, finally ended with a loss of Rs 12 at Rs 5,587. Wipro slumped 2.76% (Rs 15) to Rs 541. Satyam dropped 1.93% (Rs 6) to close at Rs 309.

HDFC declined 1.96% (Rs 11) to Rs 533. Hindalco was down a per cent (Rs 6) at Rs 1,014. ICICI Bank dipped 1.62% (Rs 4) to Rs 249. Tata Power also ended in the red at Rs 233 - down Rs 3 or 1.11%.