The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 11 points at 8,826, which turned out to be the low for the day.
Sustained buying saw the index move in positive zone right through the session today.
The index touched a high of 8,916 towards the bell - an intra-day swing of 90 points. The Sensex finally closed with a gain of 80 points (0.91%) at 8,896.
The Nifty gained 31 points to close at 2,693.
ONGC advanced 2.7% (Rs 28) to Rs 1,081. Reliance moved up Rs 7 to Rs 843. SBI added Rs 7 to Rs 887. ITC and HLL were both up Rs 2 each at Rs 135 and Rs 187, respectively.
TCS was firm right through the session, and closed with a gain of 2.6% (Rs 40) at Rs 1,596. While Satyam gained Rs 11 to Rs 666, Wipro was up Rs 8 at Rs 436. Infosys was up Rs 3 at Rs 2,800.
Dr. Reddy's added 2.6% (Rs 23) to Rs 931. Reliance Energy gained 2.5% (Rs 16) to Rs 633. ICICI Bank gained over 2% (Rs 13) to Rs 543. HDFC Bank was up 2% (Rs 15) at Rs 696.
Hero Honda gained 2.2% (Rs 18) to Rs 824. Tata Motors was up Rs 10 at Rs 559. Bajaj and Maruti also finished with gains.
Grasim moved up Rs 5 to Rs 1,376. Gujarat Ambuja and ACC were up a rupee each at Rs 81 and Rs 526, respectively.
L&T declined over 1% (Rs 18) to Rs 1,711. BHEL dropped 1% (Rs 13) to Rs 1,367. Hindalco, Tata Power and Tata Steel also declined.