After renewed buying emerged in the mid-noon trades, sharp surge, particularly, in old economy stocks lifted the index above the 4,900-mark towards the closing hours. The Sensex, which bounced from an intra-day low of 4,839 in early deals, displayed a range-bound trend thereafter as nervous optimism prevailed in the market till early noon deals.

The markets witnessed a steep rally in the late noon deals as buying led by PSU, heavyweight, cement and auto pivotals propelled the gains of the index to an intra-day high of 4,939.

The Sensex slightly trimmed its gains on profit-taking in select stocks to close with a gain of 85 points at 4,929. The Nifty gained 31 points to close at 1,558.

While 27 Sensex stocks advanced, three declined today. Advancing shares accounted for a volume of 2.91 crore for Rs 982.06 crore, and declining shares registered a volume of six lakh amounting to Rs 65.89 crore.

Heavyweight, PSU and other select old economy stocks emerged as major gainers on the back of a strong buying support.

Reliance appreciated by 1.80% (Rs 8) to Rs 438. While ITC advanced 2.40% (Rs 22) to Rs 939, HLL closed up a tad at Rs 128.

BHEL notched up 3.96% gains (Rs 20) to Rs 524. While MTNL gained 2% (Rs 3) to Rs 135, HPCL was up a per cent (Rs 2) at Rs 322. SBI also ended at higher levels at Rs 438 - up Rs 8 or 1.75%.

Hindalco soared 5.18% (Rs 53) to Rs 1,085. Tata Power spurted 6.84% (Rs 16) to Rs 252. Tisco gained 3.61% (Rs 11) to Rs 313.

Cement, auto and pharma pivotals, too, attracted buying support. Grasim added 2.11% (Rs 21) to Rs 1,034. While ACC moved up 2.74% (Rs 6) to Rs 244, Gujarat Ambuja was up 1.62% (Rs 4) at Rs 277.

Hero Honda jumped 2.49% (Rs 13) to Rs 529. While Maruti moved up 2% (Rs 8) to Rs 409, Tata Motors was up 1.95% (Rs 7) at Rs 385. Bajaj, however, was marginally down by Rs 2 at Rs 899.

Ranbaxy logged 1.69% gains (Rs 16) to Rs 947. While Dr. Reddy's added 1.21% (Rs 9) to Rs 749, Cipla was up 1.52% (Rs 3) at Rs 228.

ICICI Bank gained 2.48% (Rs 6) to Rs 241. HDFC Bank and Bharti were up a per cent each at Rs 366 (up Rs 4) and Rs 149 (up Rs 2), respectively. Reliance Energy at Rs 573 (up Rs 5) and Zee at Rs 128 (up Rs 2 or 1.88%) also ended with decent gains.

Tech majors, however, ended on a divergent note. Wipro gained 1.57% (Rs 8) to Rs 532. While Satyam closed up a rupee at Rs 309, Infosys was down Rs 3 at Rs 1,426.