At close, the Sensex was up 254.03 points or 0.50% at 51,279.51, and the Nifty was up 76.40 points or 0.51% at 15,174.80. Bajaj Finance, Sun Pharma, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, Hindalco, and Tech Mahindra were the top gainers on Sensex. ONGC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, SBI Life and Maruti Suzuki India were the top drags. About 1609 shares have advanced, 1322 shares declined, and 170 shares are unchanged. The Nifty Metal index gained 1.5 per cent Nifty IT index up 1.67 per cent and the Nifty Pharma index up 1.48 per cent. On the downside, the Nifty PSU Bank index ended 0.15 per cent lower. The S&P BSE MidCap index ended 0.7 per cent higher today, while the S&P BSE SmallCap index settled 0.9 per cent higher.