The index touched a day's high of 17,293 in noon deals. The Sensex finally ended with a gain of 13 points at 17,243.
The market breadth was positive - out of 2,795 stocks traded, 1,710 advanced, 1,009 declined and 76 were unchanged today.
The NSE Nifty settled with a gain of 13 points at 5,118 points.
THE MOVERS...
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Tata Steel surged over 3% to Rs 922. Mahindra & Mahindra was up 2.7% at Rs 670.
Reliance gained 2.5% at Rs 2,668, while BHEL advanced 2% at Rs 1,771.
Grasim and Tata Motors added 1.6% each at Rs 2,323 and Rs 689, respectively.
TCS and ITC gained around 1.2% to Rs 964 and Rs 228, respectively.
ACC and Reliance Communications were up 1% each at Rs 690 and Rs 604, respectively.
...AND THE SHAKERS
HDFC Bank plunged 3.5% at Rs 1,414, and HDFC tumbled over 3% to Rs 2,688.
Hindustan Unilever shed 2.3% at Rs 236.
NTPC and Cipla were down over 2% each at Rs 182 and Rs 204, respectively.
ICICI Bank slipped 1.8% at Rs 911, and Ambuja Cements dropped 1.6% to Rs 107.
Ranbaxy, Jaiprakash Associates and Reliance Infrastructure were down other major losers.
MOST ACTIVE COUNTERS
HDFC led the value chart with a turnover of Rs 400.61 crore followed by Cairn India (Rs 321.86 crore), Reliance (Rs 266.57 crore), Reliance Petroleum (Rs 199.02 crore) and Mudra Port (Rs 192.43 crore).
IFCI topped the volume chart with trades of around 2.16 crore shares followed by Reliance Natural Resources (1.49 crore), Ispat (1.40 crore), Aishwarya Telecom (1.39 crore) and Chambal Fertilisers (1.24 crore).