At close, the Sensex was up 344.63 points or 0.65% at 53,760.78, and the Nifty was up 110.50 points or 0.69% at 16,049.20. Hindustan Unilever was the top gaining stock on Sensex, up 2.86%, followed by Titan and Maruti Suzuki India. Tata Steel, Power Grid, and HCL Tech were the laggards. About 1712 shares have advanced, 1491 shares declined, and 147 are unchanged. The BSE MidCap index added 0.85 percent in the broader market, and the BSE SmallCap index, too, gained 0.5 percent. Sectorally, the Nifty Auto index was the biggest gainer, up 2 percent, and FMCG and Capital Goods indices rose 1 percent each, Bank Nifty ended 0.09% higher. The Nifty Metal, on the contrary, eased 0.8 percent. India VIX fell 4% to settle at 17.6%.