Mumbai : Continuing its upward march for the third day in a row, the Sensex on Thursday rose nearly 76 points to end at 17,538.67, its highest closing in 3 months, despite mixed global trends ahead of key European Central Bank meet.

The BSE benchmark index opened higher but soon dipped to the day’s low of 17,423.45 as rupee weakened to below 55-level a US dollar.

After trading in a narrow 139-point range, Sensex finally ended 75.86 points higher or 0.43 per cent at 17,538.67, the highest closing after Sensex ended at 17,597.42 on 3rd April.

“Strong FII fund flows and expectations of measures from the government to boost the sagging economy helped the market remain firm,” said Alex K Mathews, Head Technical and Derivatives Research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.

The day’s gains were led by FMCG, banking and capital goods scrips.

The 21 gainers in the 30-share index included Cipla, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors and ITC while the nine losers were led by ONGC, Bajaj Auto, Coal India and Sterlite.

Likewise, the 50-share National Stock Exchange index Nifty rose by 24.75 points or 0.47 per cent to 5,327.30.

Brokers said investors were shy of buying large-caps and they put money in small-cap and mid-cap stocks.

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rose 0.90 and 1.64 per cent respectively.

The market breadth closed on a positive note with 1,946 shares closing with gains out of the 3,012 shares traded.

“Sentiment was positive on hope of FDI limit hike in retail and favourable decision on GAAR issue. However, rupee’s weakness was a major concern,” said Shubham Agarwal, Associate VP & Sr Technical Equities Analyst, Motilal Oswal Securities.

Globally, sentiments were mixed with Japan’s Nikkei and China’s Shanghai Composite ending lower while the UK’s FTSE and Germany’s DAX were trading marginally higher in early trade.

Investors awaited the outcome of today’s ECB meeting, where it is expected to cut borrowing costs, dealers said.