The Sensex, after opening with a small gain of two points at 5,566 and a subsequent fall to a low of 5,560 in early deals, displayed range-bound trend till mid-noon deals as buying in old and new economy remained steady due to the expiry of last day of the December contract series.

The trend, however, changed dramatically towards the closing deal, as a last minute rally in a bunch of stocks including - Wipro, HDFC, HPCL, Hero Honda, L&T, Tisco and Bharti Tele lifted the index above the 5,600 levels to a high of 5,648.

The Sensex finally wrapped up the session with a huge gain of 78 points at 5,642. The Nifty moved up 1.60% (28 pts) to close at 1,809.

Reliance moved up a per cent (Rs 6) to Rs 529. While HLL closed up a rupee at Rs 201, ITC ended a tad higher at Rs 975.

HPCL surged nearly 5% (Rs 19) to Rs 433. While MTNL jumped 3% to Rs 127, BHEL closed up a per cent at Rs 482 (up Rs 5). SBI was up Rs 2 at Rs 508.

Wipro, on a late bout of buying support, ascended 4% (Rs 69) to Rs 1,723. Satyam closed up a per cent (Rs 3) at Rs 357. Infosys, however, languished in negative territory through the session, and slipped a per cent (Rs 37) to Rs 5,423.

HDFC at Rs 681 (up Rs 58 or 9%), Tisco at Rs 412 (up Rs 16 or 4%) and Bharti Tele at Rs 107 (up Rs 9 or 9%) ended with steep gains on a last minute buying.

L&T rose 6% (Rs 28) to Rs 517 on sustained buying support. Grasim ended with a modest gain of Rs 2 at Rs 978. While Gujarat Ambuja lost a per cent (Rs 4) to Rs 295, ACC closed marginally lower at Rs 232.

Hero Honda, which traded firm through the session, jumped sharply towards the close and rocketed 8% (Rs 33) to Rs 451. Bajaj and Telco, however, ended with marginal losses at Rs 1,150 and Rs 431, respectively.

Dr. Reddy's and Cipla clocked a per cent gain each to Rs 1,415 (up Rs 20) and Rs 1,267 (up Rs 15), respectively. Ranbaxy, however, slipped from higher levels to finish nearly 2% lower (Rs 17) at Rs 1,067.

Zee dropped 4% (Rs 6) to Rs 153.