Sensex tanks 650 pts from day's high, ends 31 pts higher; Nifty holds 21,500; financial stocks drag

Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty on Tuesday closed moderately higher after a fag-end sell-off minimised the handsome gains posted in early trading. After rising sharply during the day, the 30-share BSE Sensex trimmed most of the gains during the fag-end and ended marginally higher by 30.99 points or 0.04 per cent at 71,386.21. The Nifty also gave up most of the intra-day gains and ended 31.85 points or 0.15 per cent up at 21,544.85. During the day, it climbed 211.45 points or 0.98 per cent to 21,724.45.