The Sensex, which had lost over 600 points in last two trading sessions, shuttled between gains and losses before ending the day 30.66 points higher at 19,121.83.
The gauge touched the day`s high of 19,201.92 and a low of 18,976.19 as stocks in teck, refinery, consumer durables and banking gained, while FMCG, power and auto sector ended in negative zone.
Similarly, the broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty moved between 5,762.95 and 5,693.25, before ending 11.65 points up at 5,740.75.
HDFC Bank gained for the first time in three days on higher earnings, but investors were still worried on weakening Asian trend after rating agency Standard and Poor`s lowered US credit outlook to negative.
Rising inflation in 17-nation European region, sovereign debt crisis and increasing crude oil prices negatively influenced the market sentiment.
HDFC Bank gained 1.4 per cent to Rs 2,348.05, the second-best performer on the Sensex on sound fourth-quarter profits. Axis Bank gained 1.13 per cent to Rs 1,410.60.
Reliance Industries, with heaviest weightage in the 30-share index, rose Rs 1.20 to Rs 1,011.35. Cairn India was up Rs 7.70 to Rs 344.25 on reports that Sesa Goa has bought 200 million shares, or about 11 per cent stake, from Petronas of Malaysia. The two carry nearly 16 per cent weightage on the benchmark.
The teck sector index gained the most by 0.77 per cent at 3,692.20, followed by oil and gas index, up 0.62 per cent at 10,030.08. Consumer durables index rose 0.52 per cent at 6,358.15 and banking by 0.50 per cent to 13,238.35.
As some investors shifted buying to lower value stocks, midcap sector index rose 0.36 per cent to 7,141.92 and smallcap, 0.29 per cent to 8,762.65.