Sensex ends down 71pts at 18,082

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 193 points at 18,346 and rallied to a high of 18,491. Profit-taking at higher levels saw the index pare early gains, and the index moved in a narrow range ahead of the RBI announcement.

A fresh round of selling followed the status quo stance of Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The central bank, in its third quarterly monetary policy review, left all the key rates - Bank Rate, repo rate, reverse repo rate and cash reserve ratio - unchanged.

The index slipped to a low of 17,928 - down 563 points from the day's high - in early noon deals.

The Sensex finally ended (provisional) with a loss of 71 points at 18,082.