The market opened on a firm note on Tuesday on global cues, and despite suffering a setback soon thereafter, rebounded and managed to stay afloat in positive territory despite seeing some selling now and then, extending its winning run to a fourth successive session.

Fears about inflation and further rate hikes by the central bank prompted a section of investors to indulge in some profit taking after three successive days of gains. Asian markets retreated after initial gains and European bourses exhibited weakness, rendering price movements rather sluggish for a better part of the session. However, hectic buying in select pharma, capital goods, automobile and power stocks lifted the market to a positive close today. 

Bank, FMCG and information technology stocks found some support but failed to hold at higher levels. Oil and realty stocks drifted lower on profit taking but regained some lost ground during the final hour. Midcap and smallcap stocks had a fairly good outing.

The Sensex, which eased to around 18,323 after rising to 18,527.45, ended the day at 18,492.45, recording a gain of 80.04 points or 0.43%. The Nifty closed at 5545.30, up 18.70 points or 0.34% over Monday's closing mark. It touched a high of 5558.30 and a low of 5496.35 during the day.