Sensex retreats from record, but ends marginally up

The Sensex made it to a fresh life high during the session on Thursday, but surrendered much of its gains to close marginally up, with softness in oil prices creating a sense of caution in the market.

At one point, the gauge zoomed over 239 points to 31,522.87, driven by a slew of market-friendly measures taken by regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India. There was also a spell of taking profit off the table, which pulled the index down. It swung 267.24 points during the session. Global cues remained negative.

The Sensex started on a positive note and hit an intra- day record. But soon, it headed down and settled with a marginal rise of 7.10 points, or 0.02%, at 31,290.74.

During the session, it breached the previous lifetime high of 31,430.32, reached on June 6. It had lost 27.93 points in the previous two sessions. The NSE Nifty, however, ended down 3.60 points, or 0.04%, at 9,630. Intra-day, it hovered between 9,698.85 and 9,617.75. The weakness in the rupee too put some pressure.