After mopping up 40 points gains at 4,947 in the opening trades, the index rallied sharply through the session on steep buying support in old and new economy stocks.

The Sensex, after touching a high of 5,069 towards the closing hours, finally settled with a huge gain of 156 points at 5,063. The Nifty also breached the 1,600 levels to finish with a gain of 47 points at 1,603.

HLL gained momentum in the afternoon trades, and shot up 4% (Rs 8) to Rs 182. Reliance and ITC also contributed heavily towards the gains of the index, and closed at Rs 499 (up Rs 12 or 2%) and Rs 886 (up Rs 17 or 2%), respectively.

MTNL traded firm on sustained buying support, and moved up 4% to Rs 113. BHEL closed up a rupee at Rs 483. SBI languished in negative territory for better part of the trading session, and lost 2% (Rs 8) to Rs 476. HPCL, had a mixed outing, and ended down a per cent (Rs 3) at Rs 326.

Infosys at Rs 4,984 (up Rs 243 or 5%), HCL Tech at Rs 235 (up Rs 19 or 9%) and Satyam at Rs 319 (up Rs 13 or 4%) rallied sharply on relentless buying support.

Grasim (up 3% or Rs 26 to Rs 884), Gujarat Ambuja (up 4% or Rs 12 to Rs 264), L&T (up Rs 14 or 3% to Rs 420) and ACC (up Rs 15 or 7% to Rs 229) ended with sharp gains.

While pharma stocks displayed mixed trends, auto stocks ended on a buoyant note on sharp buying support.