The BSE benchmark Sensex, which declined to 19,619.89 in afternoon trades, after surging to 19,742.42 earlier in the day, ended the session with a small gain of 7.03 points or 0.04% at 19,642.75. The Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange closed at 5943.05, off the day's high of 5971, recording a gain of 3.35 points or 0.06%.

Metal, capital goods, consumer durables and FMCG stocks ended weak. Bank and power stocks too mostly closed on the negative side. Automobile and healthcare stocks turned in a mixed performance, while oil, realty and information technology stocks posted smart gains.

Reliance Industries jumped more than 3%, on the back of reports that the company and its two partners- BP and Niko Resources plan to invest over $5 billion over the next three to five years in the KG-D6 block to develop around 4 trillion cubic feet of discovered natural gas reserves.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Hero Motocorp, Coal India and GAIL India gained 1% - 1.4%. Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Tata Consultancy Services, HDFC Bank, Wipro and Tata Power also closed on a firm note.

DLF, which was the top gainer in the Nifty index, moved up by 3.6%. Ambuja Cements gained around 3.5% and BPCL notched up a gain of 3.3%. HCL Technologies ended 2.5% up. ACC, Grasim Industries and Punjab National Bank closed with modest gains.

Tata Steel declined by over 2%. IDFC, Jindal Steel & Power, Bharti Airtel, Cipla, Jaiprakash Associates, Siemens, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and Kotak Bank lost 1% - 2%. Cairn India, Tata Motors, BHEL, NTPC, Hindalco and Sesa Goa also closed notably lower.