The index moved in a range of 217 points between 15,226 (high) and 15009 (low).

The index finally ended with a gain of  296 points at 15,185.

The market breadth was positive - out of 2,716 stocks traded, 1,830 advanced, 809 declined, and 77 were unchanged.

The NSE Nifty moved up 74 points at 4,524.

INDEX MOVERS...

BHEL zoomed 8.6% to Rs 1,382. Ambuja Cements surged 7.7% to Rs 82. DLF advanced 7.5% to Rs 480.

HDFC [Get Quote] gained 5% at Rs  2,101. Bharti Airtel [Get Quote] and HDFC Bank added 4.5% each to Rs 778 and Rs 1131, respectively.

ACC was up 3.8% to Rs 617. Jaiprakash Associates [Get Quote] and Cipla advanced 3.4% each to Rs 177 and Rs 211, respectively.

Reliance gained 3% to Rs 2,199. L&T and Tata Steel [Get Quote] were up 2.7% each to Rs 2,589 and Rs 820, respectively.

Infosys [Get Quote], SBI [Get Quote] , NTPC, Reliance Infrastructure, Mahindra & Mahindra, ICICI Bank [Get Quote] and Satyam [Get Quote] were the other gainers.

...AND THE SHAKERS

Tata Motors [Get Quote] and Reliance Communications [Get Quote] declined 1.4% each at Rs 513 and Rs 551, respectively.

Grasim [Get Quote], ITC and Maruti [Get Quote] lost 1% each at Rs 2,217, Rs 202 and Rs 742, respectively.

Hindustan Unilever slipped 0.8% to Rs 234. Wipro [Get Quote] and ONGC [Get Quote] were the other major losers of the day.

MOST ACTIVE COUNTERS

Ranbaxy [Get Quote] led the value chart with a turnover of  Rs 684.05 crore followed by Reliance (Rs 322.83 crore), Anu Labs (Rs 251.70 crore), Reliance Capital [Get Quote] (Rs 186.62 crore) and IFCI (Rs 164.99 crore).

IFCI topped the volume chart with trades of around 2.67 crore shares followed by Ranbaxy (1.19 crore),  Karuturi (1.08 crore), Ispat Industries [Get Quote] (84 lakh) and Anu Labs (81 lakh).