After touching the day's high of 18,041 up 178 points from the day's low, the Sensex marginally pared its gains to move into the sub-18,000 range again. The Sensex was quoting at 17,991 up 144 points, while the Nifty added 39 points at 5,388.
Sterlite Industries continued to lead the gains on the Sensex, up 3% at Rs 166, followed by Tata Steel at Rs 576 and Reliance Industries at Rs 926, both up 2%. Tata Motors, Hindalco Industries, ICICI Bank and NTPC added 2% each.
On the losers list, Mahindra & Mahindra shed nearly 2% at Rs 669, while Infosys at Rs 2,774 and ITC at Rs 188 slipped nearly 1% each. HDFC, Reliance Communications, BHEL and Cipla were the other losers on the Sensex.
The Mid-cap index gained 0.4% at 6,647, while the Small-cap index added 0.7% at 8,060.
Metal stocks added further sheen, as the index moved to the top of the sectoral indices tables, up nearly 2% at 14,916, followed by the Oil & Gas counter at 9,283 up 2%, and the Bankex at 11,928 up 1%.
Consumer Durables stocks weakened further; the index declined 1% at 6,390. The IT counter also witnessed some weakness, and was trading marginally in the red at 5,905.
Of the 2,593 stocks traded on the BSE so far, 1,477 advanced, while 992 declined, indicating a positive market breadth.