Sensex dips 7 pts at close

The Sensex opened with a small positive gap of five points at 6,595 and displayed a range-bound trend through the trading session.

Sluggish activity in most of the counters saw the index move in an intra-day range of 43 points. While gains in select counters lifted the index to an intra-day high of 6,608 in late morning trades, it shed ground in late noon trades to touch a low of 6,565.

The Sensex, which witnessed sharp fluctuation towards the fag-end, finally ended seven points lower at 6,582. The Nifty was down a point at 2,057.

Satyam dropped 2.41% (Rs 10) to Rs 395. While Infosys was down a per cent (Rs 20) at Rs 2,142, Wirpo ended on a subdued note at Rs 680 - down Rs 3.

SBI was down a per cent (Rs 4) at Rs 677. HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank were down a rupee each at Rs 560 and Rs 373, respectively.

HPCL shed 1.34% (Rs 5) to Rs 343.

ITC and HLL ended with marginal losses at Rs 1,283 and Rs 144, respectively.

Bajaj, Tata Motors and Hero Honda slipped a per cent each to Rs 1,042 (down Rs 7), Rs 478 (down Rs 5) and Rs 535 (down Rs 4), respectively. Maruti was down Rs 2 at Rs 471.

Cipla declined a per cent (Rs 3) to Rs 265, and Ranbaxy ended Rs 2 weaker at Rs 1,011. Dr. Reddy's, however, ended with a steady gain of Rs 4 at Rs 727.

Reliance advanced 1.56% (Rs 8) to Rs 548, and ONGC gained a per cent (Rs 5) to Rs 814.

L&T scaled up 2% (Rs 22) to Rs 1,090. While Hindalco attracted buying support and moved up 1.38% (Rs 19) to Rs 1,377, Reliance Energy was up a per cent (Rs 4) at Rs 562. Zee added Rs 2 to Rs 152.