The Sensex, which opened 65 points higher at 4,942, soon breached the 5,000-mark to touch an intra-day high of 5,060 on strong buying support across-the-board.

However, profit-taking in select old and new economy stocks dragged the index to an intra-day low of 4,892.

The markets recovered later as the Sensex gained 2.65% (up 129 points) to close at 5,006.

The Nifty rose 64 points to end at 1,568.

While 20 Sensex stocks advanced, 10 declined today.

PSU frontliners were buoyant on the back of strong buying support. ONGC shot up 9.75% (Rs 62) to Rs 702. SBI spurted 7.11% (Rs 35) to Rs 526. While BHEL soared 14.76% (Rs 65) to Rs 502, HPCL was up 2.46% (Rs 8) at Rs 327.

Heavyweight and tech majors, too, largely finished with gains. Reliance advanced 4.29% (Rs 19) to Rs 452. HLL added 3% (Rs 4) to Rs 134. ITC lost 2.24% (Rs 21) to Rs 897.

Infosys ended 1.94% higher (Rs 95) at Rs 4,982. While Satyam was up 1.43% (Rs 4) at Rs 312, Wipro was down 1.32% (Rs 20) at Rs 1,523.

Tisco appreciated by 7.32% (Rs 21) to Rs 315. Tata Power mopped up 9% gains (Rs 26) to Rs 314. Bharti raked in 5.62% gains (Rs 8) to Rs 155.

Cement and auto majors ended on a divergent note today. ACC moved up 2.21% (Rs 6) to Rs 259. While Gujarat Ambuja added 4.68% (Rs 13) to Rs 298, Grasim ended down a per cent (Rs 8) at Rs 1,062.

Maruti, which made its debut on the BSE-30 in place of L&T today, had a decent outing. It moved up 4.24% (Rs 19) to Rs 466.

Tata Motors also ended firm with a gain of 4.72% (Rs 19) at Rs 421. Bajaj closed down a per cent (Rs 7) at Rs 870.