Mumbai, Apr 24: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Thursday ended higher by 23 points in highly volatile trade in which the barometer touched a high of 16,844.02 points during intra-day.

Marketmen said selling pressure emerged as major market players indulged in settling their pending position on the last day of the current derivative segment, which falls on last Thursday of each month.

The 30-share Sensex, which lost nearly 85 points in previous day's trading, closed with a minor gain of 23.04 points at 16,721.08. The index dipped to a low of 16,668.60 points.

However, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty closed lower by 22.95 points at 4,999.85. The Nifty touched the day's high of 5,072.70 and a low of 4,991.35 points.

Barring a moderate rise in information technology and capital goods sectors, all other sectoral indices closed lower.

Metal sector suffered the most after prominent steelmakers announcing decision to hold the prices at least for the next three months.

Metal sector index plunged by 183.60 points at 15,364.43 as the state-run company MMTC.