The Sensex edged past the 4,900-mark in opening deals, and remained firm on sustained buying support in old economy stocks to touch a high of 4,922.

However, the closing hours saw the Sensex blow away its strong position as most of the stocks came under profit-booking. It finally settled with a gain of 32 points at 4,887. The Nifty slipped from a high of 1,563, and ended 19 points higher at 1,556.

Reliance, after touching an intra-day high of Rs 497, slipped to a low of Rs 480 on profit-booking, before settling with a per cent gain (Rs 5) at Rs 485.

The counter clocked a volume of more than 82 lakh on the BSE with a turnover of Rs 405 crore. The diversified major reported a 26% increase in net profit at Rs 1,263 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2003 when compared with Rs 1,002 crore in Q2FY03.

While ITC bounced from a low to close at Rs 893 (up Rs 11), HLL closed up a rupee at Rs 190.

SBI firmed up in the afternoon trades, and moved up 2% (Rs 10) to Rs 498. While BHEL gained Rs 6 to Rs 423, MTNL closed up a rupee at Rs 121. HPCL, however, ended at subdued levels, with a loss of 4% (Rs 13) at Rs 328.

Grasim (up 4% or Rs 31 to Rs 756), ACC (up 3% or Rs 7 to Rs 211) and Gujarat Ambuja (up 2% or Rs 5 to Rs 236) attracted considerable buying interest. L&T ended marginally higher at Rs 385.

Infosys at Rs 4,609 (down Rs 128 or 3%), HCL Tech at Rs 194 (down Rs 8 or 4%) and Satyam at Rs 288 (down Rs 4) ended in the losers list on sustained selling pressure.