While to the uninitiated, the markets seemed to be prodding along in the recent past, the indices have actually been steadily moving towards a two-year high (5282 on the Nifty beckons!).
The Sensex ended the day at 17578, higher by 58 points and the Nifty closed at 5262, up 16 points.
Bharti Airtel rose for the third straight day on reports the company has applied for third-generation mobile spectrum across the country's 22 telecom zones. India's No. 1 mobile services provider by sales ended at Rs 311, stronger by Rs 11 or 3.9%, on the BSE.
Reliance Communications ended at Rs 167, higher by 1.9%, and Hero Honda closed at Rs 1968, up 34 points. And index heavyweight Reliance Industries ended 1.3% higher at Rs 1089.
On the losers side, HDFC closed at 2693, weaker by 1.5%, DLF ended at 312, lower by 1.3% and M&M shut at Rs 1073, down 1.2%.
The market breadth was negative. Out of 2943 stocks traded on the BSE, there were 1345 advancing stocks as against 1481 declines.