The markets witnessed a strong upward bias in the first-half. After opening with a positive gap of 24 points at 6,181, the Sensex rallied past the 6,250-mark to touch an intra-day high of 6,270 as across-the-board buying support lifted the market sentiment. While the optimism in the market continued thereafter, the gains of the index started tapering off in mid-noon trades. By the closing hours of the trading session the Sensex slipped into the red as wide-spread selling in heavyweights and other old economy stocks dragged it to a low of 6,121.The Sensex, after moving in an intra-day range of 149 points, finally ended the session with a loss of 22 points at 6,135. The Nifty, too, fell from higher levels and declined 19 points to 1,909.Reliance was down a per cent (Rs 4) at Rs 514. While HLL lost nearly 2% (Rs 3) to Rs 127, ITC declined a per cent (Rs 10) to Rs 1,369. ONGC, however, clocked a per cent gain (Rs 9) at Rs 840.Satyam slumped 4.63% (Rs 18) to Rs 368. While Wipro dropped 3.19% (Rs 19) to Rs 576, Infosys ended on a flat note at Rs 1,914.SBI and ICICI Bank slipped a per cent each to Rs 616 (down Rs 4) and Rs 384 (down Rs 3), respectively. HDFC Bank, however, moved up 1.89% (Rs 10) to Rs 531.L&T dropped nearly 2% (Rs 19) to Rs 944, while Tisco lost 2% (Rs 7) to Rs 347.Hero Honda declined 2.15% (Rs 11) to Rs 491. While Bajaj lost 1.11% (Rs 12) to Rs 1,060, Tata Motors and Maruti were down a per cent each at Rs 417 (down Rs 4) and Rs 413 (down Rs 3), respectively.Ranbaxy, Dr. Reddy's and Cipla ended with modest gains at Rs 942, Rs 689 and Rs 234, respectively.HDFC surged 3.28% (Rs 23) to Rs 712. While Bharti gained 1.40% (Rs 3) to Rs 207, Tata Power was up 1.37% (Rs 5) at Rs 337.
