The Sensex on Friday opened with a gain of six points at 4,894.

Buying gained momentum in mid-noon trades and peaked up towards the closing hours as strong gains lifted the index to an intra-day high of 4,961.

The Sensex closed with a gain of 63 points at 4,951. The Nifty also added 20 points to end at 1,559.

While 26 Sensex stocks advanced, four declined today.

ITC soared 3% (Rs 30) to finish at Rs 1,024. Reliance was up a per cent (Rs 4) at Rs 424. HLL closed up a tad at Rs 124.

SBI scaled up 2% (Rs 9) to Rs 440. ONGC firmed up 2% (Rs 13) to Rs 668. BHEL gained 2.29% (Rs 12) to Rs 539. HPCL and MTNL ended with marginal gains.

Infosys moved up 2.40% (Rs 35) to Rs 1,478. Satyam was up a per cent (Rs 3) at Rs 329. Wipro ended with a rupee gain at Rs 526.

Bajaj was up 1.18% (Rs 10) at Rs 851. Tata Motors advanced 1.68% (Rs 7) to Rs 414. Maruti logged 1.18% gains (Rs 5) to Rs 425. Hero Honda (up Rs 2 to Rs 462) ended with modest gains.

Dr. Reddy's and Cipla were up a per cent at Rs 752 (up Rs 4) and Rs 234 (up Rs 2), respectively. Ranbaxy, however, ended on a subdued note at Rs 969 - down Rs 8.

Grasim clocked a per cent gain (Rs 7) to Rs 958. Gujarat Ambuja and ACC closed up a rupee at Rs 276 and Rs 233, respectively.

Tisco soared 3.56% (Rs 12) to Rs 339. ICICI Bank added 2.70% (Rs 6) to Rs 245. Tata Power was up 1.18% (Rs 3) at Rs 257.

Hindalco and Reliance Energy, however, slipped a per cent to Rs 1,085 (down Rs 7) and Rs 565 (down Rs 6), respectively.