The Sensex closed the day higher by 134 points, while the Nifty gained 41 points in trade. Among the stocks that gained in trade were ONGC, DLF, ACC, Ranbaxy Labs, Cipla, Bhel, NTPC and IDFC.

Among the stocks that lost ground were Bharti Airtel, Larsen and Toubro, HeroMotor Corp, Coal India and Reliance Industries.

Mid cap stocks which saw deep cuts in the last few weeks continued to see selling pressure with CMC, Sadhbhav, Greaves Cotton, Pantaloon Retail, Unichem and 3M India among the top losers.

Kingfisher Airlines was locked at the upper end of the circuit filter after reports that UB Holdings had sought approval from shareholders to hike the loan limit for the company.

Hotel Leela jumped almost 10 per cent after the company said that the board had approved the sale of the company's IT park building in Chennai to Reliance Industries.

Simbhaoli Sugars Mills jumped after the company said that it will mull issuing up to 40 lakh cumulative redeemable preference shares of Rs 40 cr on March 12 .

Trent ended the day higher after reports that it will buy TVS Shriram's stake in Landmark for Rs 84 crore.

Banking stocks ended the day higher today with Indusind Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Union Bank and Yes Bank among the gainers.

Meanwhile, markets in Asia ended the day mixed, while markets in Europe were trading higher. The German DAX, the French CAC and the UK's FTSE were all higher in trade.

GoodReturns.in