MUMBAI: Rising for the third straight session, the benchmark BSE Sensex edged up by 66.12 points to 26,220.95 despite grim signals from China as exporters Lupin, TCS, Sun Pharma and Infosys jumped on hopes of better-than-expected earnings due to favourable currency moves.
The market barometer has gathered around 600 points since Reserve Bank's policy rate cut on Tuesday.
Late sell-off and a drop in domestic factory output kept the market range-bound and gains muted. India's manufacturing output slipped to a seven-month low of 51.2 in September as order flow turned sluggish amid "difficult economic climate".
There was more bad news from China as its manufacturing activity contracted for the second month in a row.
Global markets shook off the pessimism nevertheless with Asian and European indexes trading higher on the first day of the quarter.
Back home, the 30-share Sensex resumed on a strong footing at 26,344.19 and continued to rise and touched day's high of 26,431.80 on RBI's move and firming trend in global markets.
However, on emergence of profit-booking in banking, auto and realty stocks it gave up of early gains and settled 66.12 points or 0.25 percent higher at 26,220.95. This is index's strongest close since 26,283.09 on August 31.
The NSE Nifty after regaining the crucial 8,000 mark in early trade succumbed to profit-booking and slipped into terrain to touch a low of 7,930.65 before settling 2.00 points, or 0.03 percent higher at 7,950.90.
Traders say foreign inventors are currently focusing more on developed world than emerging markets.
On a weekly basis, both Sensex and Nifty rose by 357.45 points (1.38 pct) and 82.40 points (1.04 pct), respectively.
Lupin topped the gainers list among BSE stocks by surging 3.62 percent to Rs 2,107.05.
Other major gainers were Sun Pharma, TCS, Dr Reddy's, L&T, ONGC, Infosys, Hero MotoCorp, Coal India and Bharti Airtel.
However, BHEL, GAIL, Maruti Suzuki, Vedanta, HDFC, ICICI Bank, SBI and Tata Motors ended lower.
Sectorally, the BSE healthcare index gained the most by rising 1.46 pct, followed by consumer durable 0.89 pct, capital goods 0.73 pct and teck 0.24 pct.
Stock exchanges will remain shut tomorrow on account of Gandhi Jayanti.
