After opening firm at 4797.82, the BSE Sensex touched the day's high at 4808.85 points but profit taking soon set in and took the index down to the day's low at 4696.87. Thereafter, regained buying took the Sensex higher to close at 4731.12 against its Friday close of 4760.21 points.

On the other hand, the S&P CNX Nifty on the NSE opened almost at the Friday's level- at 1391.90, went up to the day's high at 1397.45 points, dippedto the day's low at 1366.25 but closed a notch higher at 1370.55 points against its previous close of 1391.10.

According to market players, the fall in the market indices was promoted by the selling pressure in the pivotal counters like HLL, Ranbaxy and Infosys whereas SBI and ITC remained firm. And Reliance, after crossing the long-awaited Rs 200-mark, closed slightly lower at Rs 196.25.

The weakness was also seen in the cement and steel counters. Led by ACC, L&T also showed decline. Among the software stocks, Satyam Computers, Pentafour and Silverline remained weak. Global Tele was the only major software stocks which hit the upper circuit. Digital Equipment too showed a weak trend, and showed a marginal decline.

The stocks which hit the upper circuit were HCPL, BPCL, Bharat Forge, Essel Pakaging, Sterlite, Indal, Baush&Lomb, Cipla, McDowell, and Titan Industries. During the mid-session on Tuesday, Indian GDRs were comparatively down with the benchmark Skindia GDR Index down 1.62 per cent at 914.48points.