The stock market got off to an impulsive beginning this morning with equities fluctuating in a dispirited manner in early trading. With international markets showing up helplessness earlier than the vital US Federal Reserve meeting, member back home remain uninformed about the market direction.

After making its entry with a positive gap of around 43 points at 15,547.07, the Sensex dropped to 15,468.80 within a few minutes as rates of blue chip stocks floated down sharply on selling pressure. But, depending on the strength of some old economy stocks, the indicator got well and touched a high of 15,571.11 in subsequent trade.

At 15,541.83, the Sensex made a modest gain of 37.40 points, whereas the Nifty has recoded a gain of 0.3% or 13.65 points at 4508.30.

The major gainers include ACC, Satyam Computer Services, NTPC, Reliance Energy, Grasim Industries, Reliance Communications, Bharti Airtel, BHEL, Hindustan Unilever, Ambuja Cements, Hindalco, ICICI Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Ranbaxy Laboratories, State Bank of India and Tata Steel.

The stocks, which made modest gains, were Cipla, Tata Consultancy Services, Larsen & Toubro, ONGC, Reliance Industries, and Wipro. The stocks that were marginally up include Infosys Technologies and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories.

Tata Motors lost marginal ground. HDFC is down with a loss of 0.65%. HDFC Bank has lost a little over a per cent.

Reliance Petroleum, Tata Power, SAIL, VSNL, GAIL India and Siemens are among the prominent gainers in the Nifty index. GlaxoSmithKline Pharma, Nalco, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, Hero Honda, Sun Pharmaceuticals and Suzlon Energy showed weakness.