Sensex (BSE sensitive index) opened firm at 4176.67 and gradually moved upwards to the intra-day high of 4215.35 before closing at 4194.55 with a handsome gain of 50.03 points compared to the previous level of 4144.52. The BSE-100 index advanced by 17.21 points to 1800.51 from the previous close of 1783.30.

Brokers said the sentiment was boosted partly by reports that the country's trade deficit was lower by 31 per cent in the first two months of the current fiscal compared to last year following impressive export growth and increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow in the first quarter of 1999.

FIIs were reportedly net buyers in key Indian stocks like Tisco, Larsen Mahindra, Grasim, SBI, GACL besides HindustanLever as also select pharma and software scrips. Of the 148 traded specified scrips, 94 showed handsome to moderate gains while 50 were marginally down and four remained unchanged. The total volume of business was substantially up at Rs 1520.58 crore as compared to yesterday's turnover of Rs 1103.36 crore.

Pentafour Software was the most active scrip with a turnover of Rs 178.10 crore and the scrip rallied by Rs 36 to Rs 1157 on fresh buying. Reliance gained by Rs 6.30 to Rs 180.80, SBI by Rs 8.80 to Rs 252.90, Ranbaxy by Rs 6.45 to Rs 657.20, Satyam Computer by Rs 8.45 to Rs 1253, Hindustan Lever by Rs 23.30 to Rs 2424, ITC by Rs 1 to Rs 1093, Telco by Rs 4.40 to Rs 206 and Tisco by Rs 4.60 to Rs 148.50.