Sensex ends up 816pts at 18,308

The Sensex opened with a negative gap of 89 points at 17,402, and soon dropped to a low of 17,287. However, the index soon rebounded into the positive zone on the back of fresh buying in select stocks.

As buying spread to other counters the index began to march to higher levels. Frenzied buying in the last one hour of trade saw the index zoom to a new all-time intra-day high of 18,327 - up 1,040 points from the day's low.

The Sensex finally ended (provisional) with a gain of 816 points at 18,308.

The last 1,000 points took just eight trading days, while the last 2,000 points have come in a short span of just 13 trading sessions.