The Sensex opened 14 points higher at 4,852, and clocked a high of 4,858 in early deals. Lacklustre trading prevailed through the session as weakness in heavyweights, techs and other select old and new economy stocks dragged the index to a low of 4,822 in the afternoon trades.

Buying in select auto, cement and pharma stocks saw the Sensex slightly come off from lower levels, but still ended 16 points lower at 4,822.

The Nifty, however, after touching an intra-day high of 1,554, ended with a gain of three points at 1,544.

ITC at Rs 860 (down Rs 16), HLL at Rs 178 (down Rs 3) and Reliance at Rs 455 (down Rs 5) languished in negative terriory and contributed to the weakness of the Sensex.

Infosys reeled under selling pressure since opening trades, and lost a per cent (Rs 45) to Rs 4,627. Wipro ended off-gains with a loss of Rs 6 at Rs 1,445. Satyam, however, ended with a gain of Rs 2 at Rs 316.

BHEL slipped in early deals to finish down a per cent (Rs 6) at Rs 426. While SBI lost Rs 2 to Rs 447, MTNL closed down a rupee at Rs 109. HPCL, however, traded with steady gains and moved up a per cent (Rs 3) to Rs 341.

L&T firmed up in a dull market scenario, and jumped 2% (Rs 9) to Rs 375. Grasim had a mixed outing and closed with a modest gain of Rs 2 at Rs 856. Gujarat Ambuja, however, slipped nearly 3% (Rs 7) to Rs 267. ACC was down a rupee at Rs 220.

Tata Motors rose nearly 2% (Rs 7) to Rs 394. Bajaj ended with gains at Rs 929 (up Rs 3), after displaying negative trends for better part of the trading session. Hero Honda, however, closed down a per cent (Rs 2) at Rs 374.

Dr. Reddy's traded off-highs to finish with a per cent gain (Rs 11) at Rs 1,241. While Ranbaxy also moved up a per cent (Rs 6) to Rs 985, Cipla, however, was down Rs 2 at Rs 1,102.