The Sensex on Monday opened 26 points lower at 5,047, and slipped further to touch a low of 5,034 on selling pressure. However, the markets firmed up following Oriental Bank of Commerce's announcement that it would take over the troubled Global Trust Bank.
Strong buying, particularly, in heavyweight, PSU, cement and auto majors saw the index surging to an intra-day high of 5,126.
The Sensex finally closed with a gain of 45 points at 5,118. The Nifty also ended firm with a gain of 16 points at 1,618.
Heavweight and PSU frontliners edged higher on strong buying support.
Reliance notched up 2.45% gains (Rs 11) to Rs 478, after early weakness. ITC attracted strong buying support, and soared 5.26% (Rs 53) to Rs 1,053. HLL, however, ended off-gains at Rs 120, after trading in the green for better part of the trading session.
ONGC moved up 1.57% (Rs 11) to Rs 710. HPCL rose 3.10% (Rs 9) to Rs 309. MTNL slipped into the red to close at Rs 134 - down Rs 3 or 1.91%.
SBI at Rs 470 (up Rs 5 or 1.12%) and HDFC Bank at Rs 372 (up Rs 2) bounced back from their lows on renewed buying. ICICI Bank, however, lost 1.49% (Rs 4) to Rs 257.
Cement and auto pivotals, too, ended at higher levels.
ACC moved up nearly 2% (Rs 5) to Rs 240. Gujarat Ambuja added 1.64% (Rs 4) to Rs 277. Grasim ended off-highs with a small gain of Rs 3 at Rs 987.
Tata Motors advanced 2.40% (Rs 10) to Rs 419. Maruti added 1.37% (Rs 6) to Rs 431. Bajaj and Hero Honda also finished with decent gains.
While select old economy counters registered gains, tech majors had a weak outing today.
Tisco surged 2.73% (Rs 10) to Rs 374. Zee flared up 2.62% (Rs 4) to Rs 143. Hindalco was up Rs 5 at Rs 1,059.
Wipro was down a per cent (Rs 5) at Rs 524. Satyam closed down a rupee at Rs 328. Infosys, however, was up Rs 4 at Rs 1,459.
Bharti was down 1.18% (Rs 2) at Rs 151. HDFC slipped a per cent (Rs 6) to Rs 591. Tata Power dropped 2.11% (Rs 6) to close at Rs 269.