Buoyed by a firm trend in global markets, investors indulged in some hectic buying on the Indian bourses almost right through the session, and the resultant surge in prices of front line stocks lifted the key indices Sensex and Nifty to an upbeat close today.

Though stocks took a mild retreat after a positive start this morning, buying resumed soon and there was no looking back for the market after the first hour. Realty and bank stocks were the top performers. Metal and oil stocks rallied sharply as well. Power, healthcare, FMCG and information technology stocks appeared a bit subdued for a while, but moved higher as the session progressed.

Capital goods stocks ended on a mixed note. Consumer durables and automobile stocks traded weak for a major part of the session, although they found some good support at lower levels towards the fag end of the day. Midcap and smallcap stocks had a good outing.

The Sensex, which rose to 18,298.64 around mid afternoon, ended the day at 18,266.10 with a strong gain of 221.46 points or 1.23%. The Nifty settled at 5476.10, slightly off the day's high of 5485.80, recording a gain of 63.75 points or 1.18%.