Continuing from the Thursday's steep rally, the Sensex opened 14 points higher at 6,507 but soon lost ground to touch a low of 6,469, in early volatile trades.

The markets, however, soon recovered as steady buying in most of the counters saw the index remained firm in the first half. Rally, however, gathered more steam in the afternoon trades and the Sensex, on the back of broad-based buying towards the fag-end, surged past the 6,600-mark to touch an intra-day high of 6,618.

The Sensex finally ended the last day of the trading session with a surge of 112 points at 6,605. The Nifty, too, finished with strong gains at 2,068 - up 32 points.

Reliance surged 3.38% (Rs 18) to Rs 564. While ITC clocked a per cent gain (Rs 14) to Rs 1,358, HPCL surged 5.47% (Rs 17) to Rs 323. Satyam moved up 3.18% (Rs 13) to Rs 421.

SBI rose 2% (Rs 14) to Rs 670. While ICICI Bank advanced 3.21% (Rs 13) to Rs 406, HDFC Bank moved up 1.41% (Rs 8) to Rs 552.

Tata Motors appreciated nearly 5% (Rs 20) to Rs 434. While Maruti jumped 2.79% (Rs 12) to Rs 433, Bajaj gained Rs8 to Rs 1,099 after reporting weakness till mid-noon

trades. Hero Honda, however, slipped a per cent (Rs 5) to Rs 544.

Bharti shot up 4.69% (Rs 10) to Rs 217. BHEL flared up 4.61% (Rs 35) to Rs 803 on impressive earnings report. While Hindalco soared 4.66% (Rs 60) to Rs 1,354, L&T notched up 3% gains (Rs 30) to Rs 1,025. Tisco also ended higher with a 2% gain (Rs 8) at Rs 409.

Gujarat Ambuja added nearly 3% (Rs 12) to Rs 413. While Grasim gained 1.27% (Rs 15) to Rs 1,229, ACC was up 1.11% (Rs 4) at Rs 364.

ONGC (down Rs 2 to Rs 880), Infosys (down Rs 9 to Rs 2,244) and Zee (down a rupee to Rs 138), however, ended on a subdued note. HDFC declined 1.35% (Rs 10) to Rs 717.