Rising for the first time this week, the BSE benchmark Sensex today rose by 30 points, boosted by a 5 per cent jump in Tata Steel and gains in fundamentally strong stocks led by consumer durables and metals.

The 30-share index commenced the day on a strong note at 19,813.72 but fell to a low of 19,571.91 intra-day before settling 30 points, or 0.15 per cent, higher at 19,704.33. It had lost 2.8 per cent in the first four days of this week.

Similarly, the broad-based National Stock Exchange index, Nifty, closed higher by 16.50 points, or 0.28 per cent, at 5,983.55. However, the MCX-SX flagship index SX40 closed marginally lower by 1.17 points, or 0.01 per cent, at 11,681.13.

Brokers said sentiment turned better on emergence of short covering positions created in the recent bear phase. The market remained volatile amid mixed trend in the global markets as investors awaited data on US durable goods orders in April.

Alloy major Tata Steel surged 4.56 per cent to Rs 313.15 even as the company reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 6,528.51 crore for the quarter ended March, 2013.
Half of the the 30 shares of Sensex ended higher, led by Tata Steel, Tata Power and Larsen Toubro rising 4.56 per cent, 3.75 per cent and 2.70 per cent, respectively.

The consumer durables sector index gained the most by rising 1.86 per cent to 7,433.09 followed by capital goods index by 1.61 per cent to 9,589.01. Metal index rose by 1.61 per cent to 8,657.35 and banking index by 0.96 per cent to 14,591.54.