The Sensex and the Nifty were also boosted by a hike in gas prices, which saw heavyweights Reliance and ONGC gaining ground. The Nifty ended the day higher by 160 points.

FII favourities, including HDFC and HDFC Bank were once again the limelight on sustained buying support. Stocks from the power, infra and steel sector which were dumped in the last few weeks joined the party with Jindal Steel, Coal India and Bhel jumping almost 6 per cent in trade.

The IT pack however was weak in trade on sharp gains in the rupee. Stocks from the sector that lost ground were HCL and Infosys.

Hindustan Unilever also saw some selling pressure in trade today. Mid cap also saw substantial gains in trade with IFCI jumping 10 per cent and PTC India 7 per cent.

JMT Auto rallied sharply on reports that it will buy 26.61 percent stake in JMT Auto from promoters. PSU banking stocks also rallied in trade with UCO Bank, Dena Bank, Allahabad Bank, Andhra Bank and IDBI Bank jumping in trade.

Real estate stocks also saw good buying with HDIL, Oberoi Realty and Unitech among the gainers.
Meanwhile, markets in Asia ended the day sharply higher with the Japnese Nikkei and the Singapore Strait Times gaining ground.

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