The bulls, who had taken a retreat yesterday afternoon, appeared quite reluctant to enter the ring when trade commenced on the major bourses this morning as a weak close on Wall Street, high crude oil prices and a none too encouraging trend in Asian markets did not provide them with any strong platform.

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But then, after initial hesitancy, they brushed aside these negative factors and started picking up a few top notch stocks from metal and information technology sectors. Following a recovery on the Asian bourses and a positive start in European markets, quite a few stocks from other sectors too joined the rally up north. A slew of stock specific stories also helped lift the sentiment in afternoon trade.

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While the Sensex, which had tumbled to a low of 16,626.35 in early trade but did well to zoom past the 17,000 mark to 17,014.94 during the session, ended with a gain of 225.49 points or 1.35% at 16,978.35, the National Stock Exchange's 50-stock Nifty index romped home with a sharp gain of 53.95 points or 1.09% as it settled at 5011.75. In intra-day trades today, the Nifty hit a high of 5026.10 and a low of 4932.05.

Thanks to a firm trend in global metal prices, metal stocks had a nice ride up the charts today. Mirroring their rise, the BSE Metal index spurted 4.36% in the session. With key software stocks posting impressive gains thanks to a weak rupee, the IT and Teck indices closed stronger by 3.8% and 3.19% respectively. The Consumer Durables index rallied 2.41% while the Healthcare index firmed up by 1.78%. BSE Auto moved up by 1.05%.

Tata Consultancy Services (up 7.1% to Rs 969.95) was the biggest gainer in the Sensex. Hindalco, which gained 6.9%, was a close second in the list. Infosys Technologies (4.55%), Tata Steel (4.15%), Maruti Suzuki (3.55%), Bharti Airtel (3.35%), Reliance Energy (3.15%), HDFC (2.75%), Jaiprakash Associates (2.6%), Reliance Communications (2.5%) and Ranbaxy Laboratories (2.1%) ended on a high note.

Wipro gained nearly 2%. Grasim Industries (1.4%), DLF (1.3%), Reliance Industries (1.15%), Satyam Computer Services (1.05%), Tata Motors (1.05%), ICICI Bank (0.95%), Cipla (0.9%) and Larsen & Toubro (0.6%) also closed on a firm note.

ONGC went down sharply and lost 5.85% today. ACC eased by 2.3%. Ambuja Cements (down 1.9%), Mahindra & Mahindra (down 1.55%), HDFC Bank (down 1.15%), NTPC (down 1.15%), NTPC (down 1.1%), Hindustan Unilever (down 1%) and State Bank of India (down 0.4%) also closed weak.

Dr. Reddy's Laboratories (8.1%) was the top gainer in the Nifty pack. Sterlite Industries spurted by over 5%. HCL Technologies gained 4.6%. Nalco, Siemens, Zee Entertainment, Reliance Petroleum, Hero Honda, Cairn India, Punjab National Bank, Suzlon Energy, Idea Cellular, Tata Power and SAIL posted impressive gains. GAIL India and BPCL closed with sharp losses. Unitech and ABB also ended on a weak note.

Thanks to a firm trend in zinc prices on the London Metal Exchange, Hindustan Zinc shot up by over 17% today. Jindal Steel, Bhushan Steel, Sesa Goa, Ispat Industries, JSW Steel and Jindal Saw were among the other prominent gainers in the metal space.