Volatile Sensex ended with a gain of 60 points on Wednesday. The index opened at 16,111 and touched a low of 16,045. However, it rebounded and touched a high of 16,216 -- up 171 points from the day's low. The Sensex finally ended with a gain of 60 points at 16,184.

The Nifty continued yesterday's rally and touched the 4,800 level. The NSE benchmark index touched a high of 4,825 and ended flat at 4,805.

The Oil & gas index surged 2.3% to 10,369. The BSE Mid and Small-cap indices underperformed the broader markets. The former slipped three points while the latter added four points.

The market breadth turned negative towards the end of the day and could not change direction. Out of 2,882 shares traded, 1,285 advanced while 1,527 declined.

INDEX MOVERS...

Sensex heavyweight, Reliance, surged 4.5% to Rs 2,172. Metal major Hindalco touched a new high and finally ended up 4% at Rs 120.

Jaiprakash Associates added 2% to Rs 238. TCS and Sterlite advanced 1.5% each to Rs 562 and Rs 750. HDFC, HDFC Bank and Tata Power also advanced around 1% each.

...AND SHAKERS

DLF and Bharti Airtel shed 3.5% each to Rs 420 and Rs 410, respectively.

Hero Honda slipped 2.5% to Rs 1,628. Wipro and Reliance Communications dropped 1.5% each.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS...

Reliance topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 1,672 crore. It was followed by DLF (Rs 858 crore), Unitech (Rs 733 crore) and ICICI Bank (Rs 468 crore).

The combined volume chart was topped by IFCI with trades of over 123 million shares, followed by Unitech (64.86 million), NHPC (50.05 million), GVK Power & Infrastructure (43.93 million) and Ispat Industries (41.93 million).