The Sensex began the day with a positive gap of 12 points at 9402. After touching an intra-day low of 9391 in the early morning deals, the index bounced back to higher levels.

All roung buying in the latter half of the trading day saw the index rally pass another landmark of 9500, to touch a new peak of 9547. The Sensex, finally, closed with hefty gains of 1.3% or 149 points at 9539.

Index heavyweight - Reliance moved up smartly in the latter half of the trading day. The stock scaled to an all-time high of Rs 923, before settling 2.3% (Rs 21) higher at Rs 920.

While ITC gained 1.9% at Rs 143, HLL was marginally up at Rs 196. ONGC was up 1.4% at Rs 1,210.

Among software counters - TCS and Wipro advanced 2.5% each to Rs 1,732 and Rs 473, respectively. Satyam was up 1.6% at Rs 743. Infosys ended with 1% gain at Rs 3,011.

Grasim

was the major gainer, among the Sensex stocks. The stock surged nearly 4% to Rs 1,429. Other cement stocks also witnessed aggressive buying amid reports of price hike in Mumbai by some leading players in the industry. ACC gained 3.2% at Rs 548, and Gujarat Ambuja finished 2.3% higher at Rs 81.10.

Dr.Reddy's rallied 3.3% to Rs 995. HDFC was up 3% at Rs 1,230.

Maruti zoomed 3.2% to Rs 666. Hero Honda at Rs 856 and Tata Motors at Rs 645 were up around 1% each. Bajaj Auto finished with marginal gains at Rs 2,017.

Bharti Tele, Tata Steel, Tata Power, ICICI Bank, BHEL, NTPC and Hindalco also finished with substantial gains.

Cipla and Larsen & Toubro were the only losers among the Sensex stocks.