Asian and European markets, which advanced for a third day ahead of policy reviews by Bank of Japan and the US Federal Reserve, kept sentiment upbeat here.
Besides, weak industrial production also couldn't stifle new positions despite declining for a third consecutive month in January.
"WPI released offered little surprise, but forecasts for lower CPI figure for February, due for release later in the day, arrested declines on expectations of further rate cuts when RBI meets next in April," said Anand James, Co Head Technical Research Desk, Geojit BNP Paribas.
The biggest gainer on Sensex was ICICI Bank, which climbed 3.70 per cent to Rs 221.70. Besides, Tata Motors surged 3.36 per cent to Rs 365.90 after the automaker on Friday said global wholesales in February, including that of Jaguar Land Rover, grew 17 per cent.
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Sensex resumed higher at 24,801.70 and firmed up further to 24,960.51 on initial buying. But, declined afterwards to 24,734.04 before finishing at 24,804.28, showing a gain of 86.29 points or 0.35 per cent. It had last ended at 24,824.83 on February 1.
Coal India was the worst Sensex performer with shares ending nearly 7 per cent down on massive selling by investors as the stock went ex-dividend today.
Shares of pharma firm Pfizer slumped 9 per cent as the company discontinued the manufacture and sale of popular cough syrup Corex with immediate effect.
Bhushan Steel ended 5.68 per cent higher after the company received the environment clearance for addition of 7 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) pellet plant to the existing 5.6 mtpa integrated steel plant in Dhenkanal, Odisha.
Key indices in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan rose by 0.04 per cent to 1.75 per cent.
Back home, out of the 30-share Sensex pack, 17 scrips
ended lower.
Major losers included Hero MotoCorp (0.91 pc), Asian Paints (0.89 pc), HUL (0.85 pc), HDFC (0.64 pc), Infosys (0.62 pc) and TCS (0.55 pc).
However, Cipla rose by 2.77 per cent followed by Adani Ports (2.67 pc), SBI (2.65 pc), ITC (0.96 pc), Tata Motors (0.93 pc), Sun Pharma (0.89 pc), BHEL (0.87 pc) and ICICI Bank (0.51 pc).
The market breadth turned positive as 1,534 stocks ended higher, 1,069 closed lower while 155 ruled steady.
The total turnover rose further to Rs 2,733.26 crore from Rs 2,619.01 crore yesterday.