The Sensex opened at 17,035 and soon rallied to a high of 17,187, up 193 points from the previous close buoyed by strong global cues. Lower number of job cuts than last month signalled a continued growth in the US economy.

The Asian markets held on to their gains and ended near the highs of the day. The Hang Seng gained 408 points (1.9%) to 21,196 and the Nikkei jumped 216 points (2%) to 10,585.

Buying in auto and the banking sectors helped the markets exhibit firmness throughout the trading session.  Strong opening of the European bourses also provided a boost to the markets.

However, the markets pared some of its gains towards the end owing to profit taking. The Sensex finally ended at 17,102, up 109 points. The NSE Nifty closed shop at 5,124, up 35 points.

The market breadth was positive, out of 2,946 shares traded, 1,752 advanced and 1,107 declined on the BSE.

Among the sectoral indices, the auto and the bank indexes added 2% and 1%, respectively.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharat Forge [ Get Quote ] and Apollo Tyres [ Get Quote ] were the major gainers, up 4% on the auto index.

Allahabad Bank [ Get Quote ] was the major gainer, up 5%, followed by Axis Bank and ICICI Bank [ Get Quote ], up 2% each on the banking index.

Index gainers...

Mahindra & Mahindra soared 4% to Rs 1,122. It was followed by Hero Honda [ Images ], ITC, ICICI Bank and ACC, up 2-3% each at Rs 1,913, Rs 250, Rs 922 and Rs 989, respectively.

Wipro [ Get Quote ], Sun Pharma [ Get Quote ], Jaiprakash Associates [ Get Quote ], Maruti [ Get Quote ], SBI [ Get Quote ] and Larsen & Toubro, up over 1% each.

...and the losers

Bharti Airtel [ Get Quote ] slipped 2% to Rs 292. Hindustan Unilever, Reliance [ Get Quote ] Infrastructure and Hindalco [ Get Quote ] were down 1% each

Value & volume toppers

SBI topped the value chart on the BSE with a turnover of Rs 261.46 crore. It was followed by ARSS Infra (235.73 crore), Jagran Prakashan [ Get Quote ] (Rs 180.35 crore). REC (Rs 117.39 crore) and ICICI Bank (Rs 97.81 crore).

Cals Refineries led the volume chart on the BSE with trades of 79.52 million shares. It was followed by Shree Ashtavinayak (17.17 million), Jagran Prakashan (15.90 million), Sanraa Media (14.13 million) and Suzlon Energy [ Get Quote ] (8.24 million) shares.