Sensex ends up 261pts at 12,857

The Sensex opened with a huge negative gap of 418 points at 12,178 owing to weakness in the US markets.

Aggressive buying in banking, realty and capital goods stocks helped the index to recover smartly and rebound into the positive zone.

The Sensex moved in a wide range of 802 points between 12,153 (low) and 12,995 (high) before finally settling (provisional) with a gain of 261 points at 12,857.

The market breadth was marginally negative - out of 2,670 stocks traded, 1,317 declined, 1,277 advanced and 76 were unchanged.

The NSE Nifty ended (provisional) with a gain of 74 points at 3,924.