The market was extremely sluggish with a negative bias as stocks moved in a range-bound mode for better part of the trading session today. After opening marginally higher at 7,349 over its last close, steady buying support in select counters lifted the Sensex to a new intra-day peak of 7,386 in early trades. Profit-taking, however, soon dragged the markets lower, with the index slipping to a low of 7,318 (down 68 pts from the day's high) amid steep fall in select auto stocks and other old economy counters.While the Sensex remained subdued thereafter, it rebounded into the green towards the fag-end before finally ending the session on a flat note at 7,347. The Nifty, however, gained four points to 2,238.Reliance Industries gained a per cent (Rs 4) to Rs 665. ITC, continuing with the yesterday's slump, tumbled 2.36% (Rs 41) to Rs 1,696. Reliance Energy was down a per cent (Rs 6) at Rs 650, after rallying sharply in early trades.ACC, on late buying support, soared 4% (Rs 17) to Rs 443. Grasim and Gujarat Ambuja ended with steady gains at Rs 1,140 and Rs 62, respectively.HDFC Bank moved up 1.83% (Rs 11) to Rs 639, while SBI clocked a per cent gain (Rs 4) to Rs 721. ICICI Bank, however, ended weak at Rs 441.BHEL scaled up 2.29% (Rs 21) to Rs 921. HDFC at Rs 900 (up Rs 9) and Tisco at Rs 370 (up Rs 7 or 1.92%) also ended at higher levels. Tata Power, however, shed 1.43% (Rs 6) to Rs 397.Infosys lost a per cent (Rs 14) to Rs 2,258, and TCS also finished weak at Rs 1,317. Wipro and Satyam, however, ended with steady gains at Rs 714 and Rs 498, respectively.Hero Honda tumbled 2.84% (Rs 19) to Rs 636, and Bajaj was down a per cent (Rs 11) at Rs 1,410. While Tata Motors advanced 1.63% (Rs 8) to Rs 476, Maruti added 1.24% (Rs 6) to Rs 458.
