The Sensex opened 77 points higher at 9,334, and soon touched a high of 9,380 on the back of follow up buying in the market. The index, however, could not hold gains has selling pressure at higher levels forced the index slip into the negative zone.
The index dropped to a low of 9,165 - down 215 points from the day's high - led by significant weakness in realy and capital goods stocks. The Sensex recovered partially towards the close and finally (provisional) ended with a loss of 59 points at 9,198.