The markets closed the session on a positive note amid volatility since morning and have not reacted much to the weak inflation numbers, which stood at 7.83% versus 7.61%, that was way above market expectations of 7.59%. Banking especially private banks, metal, oil & gas, power and pharma stocks were the contributors. The Sensex closed above 17400 and the Nifty above 5150 mark. The Indian Rupee touched 42.89 per dollar. Midcap and small cap stocks remained positive.

The Sensex finished at 17,434.94, up 81.40 points or 0.47% after hitting an intraday high/low of 17,497.36 and 17,315.52, respectively. The Nifty was up 42.45 points or 0.83% to settle at 5157.70; it has touched a high of 5167.40 and low of 5106.40.

Biggest gainers were Ranbaxy Labs, Reliance Communications, HUL, HDFC Bank, SAIL, PNB, Suzlon Energy and BPCL while losers - HCL Tech, Siemens, HDFC, Infosys, Ambuja Cements and TCS.

Midcap and small cap indices were up 0.70% at 7,129.70 and 0.86% at 8,620.26, respectively. Midcap gainers of the day were Brigade Enterp, Prakash Ind, Bongaigaon Ref, Chambal Fert, Matrix Lab, Monsanto India and Spice Comm, which up 7-12%.

On the weekly basis, the Sensex gained 4% and the Nifty rose 3.5%. Metal Index was the star perfomer, up 9.5% followed by Bankex and IT shot up 5% each. Hindalco, Suzlon, SAIL, Rel Comm and PNB were major gainers, up 19%, 13%, 12%, 12% and 13%, respectively. Amongst midcap space, Chambal Fert went up 21.7%, JSW Steel up 25% and Mercator Lines up 16%.

Inflation for the week ended May 3 was way above market estimates. Food Articles Index rose 0.5%; Fuel, Power Index up 0.8%. Manufactured Products Index went up 0.3%.

Metal index outperformed the market, which shot up by 1.9% or 317.64 points to settle at 17,058.01. SAIL increased by 8% due to strong Q4 and FY08 numbers; SAIL reported Q4 net profit at Rs 2376.8 crore versus Rs 1901.8 crore and net sales of Rs 13550 crore versus Rs 10385 crore. For FY08, the company's net profit stood at Rs 7536.8 crore as against Rs 6202.3 crore and net sales at Rs 39508 crore versus Rs 33923 crore. Amongst metal space, JSW Steel, Guj NRE Coke, Sterlite Ind, Ispat Industrie and NALCO were other movers.

Banking especially private banks have gained. The BSE Bankex was up 1.54% or 135.27 points at 8,941.28 due to buying in PNB, Bank of India, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Oriental Bank, HDFC Bank, Centurion Bank, SBI and ICICI Bank.

Power stocks continued to lightened, index up 0.89% at 3,332.49 as Suzlon Energy, Tata Power, GMR Infra, Power Grid Corp, Reliance Infra and CESC charged up.

Pharma stocks like Matrix Lab, Lupin, Ranbaxy Labs, Sun Pharma, Cadila Health, Wyeth and Novartis India witnessed good buying interest. The BSE Healthcare Index rose 0.83% to end at 4,321.48.

Oil & Gas including BPCL, Petronet LNG, Cairn India, HPCL, IOC, GAIL and Reliance also surged higher. The BSE Oil & Gas Index closed at 11,289.58 up 0.75%.

Capital Goods stocks like Kirloskar Oil, Suzlon Energy, Astra Microwave, Alfa Laval, Lakshmi Machine, AIA Engineering and L&T moved up. The BSE Capital Goods Index rose 0.71% at 13,696.75.

BSE Auto Index finished higher at 4,757.30, up 0.57% due to buying in Escorts, Bosch, Hind Motors, Punj Tractors, TVS Motor, Tata Motors and Exide Industries.

FMCG stocks like Colgate, Tata Tea, HUL, Britannia, United Spirits, Godrej Consumer and GSK Cons have gained. The BSE FMCG Index jumped 0.55% at 2,508.25.

However, technology stocks remained highly choppy today, Index lost 0.42% at 4,467.55 due to selling in HCL Tech, Infosys, TCS, Patni Computer and Wipro. The Indian Rupee was trading at 42.65 per dollar at the time of writing market report.

Most active counters were Aishwarya Tele, HDIL, SAIL, Reliance and Cairn India on the bourses.

Turnover for the day stood at Rs 57401.84 crore including Rs 13411.2 crore from NSE Cash segment, Rs 37876.68 crore from NSE F&O and Rs 6113.96 crore from BSE Cash segment.

Asian markets were trading higher barring Shanghai. Hang Seng was up 0.7% or 178.50 points at 25,692.21. Nikkei 225 Average was up 0.53% or 75.74 points at 14,327.48. Jakarta Composite rose 15.35 points or 0.63% at 2,465.16. Straits Times was up 30.45 points or 0.95% at 3,237.88. Seoul Composite rose 0.11% or 2.02 points at 1,887.73. Taiwan Weighted was up 0.57% or 52.61 points at 9,209.79. However, Shanghai Composite was down 0.09% or 3.24 points at 3,634.08.