Sensex closes at 19,058, up 188 pts

"Sensex today surpassed 19,000 and Nifty crossed 5,800 amid reports the government might clear bills aimed at hiking FDI in insurance and opening up the pension sector to foreign investors," said Amar Ambani, Head of Research, IIFL.

Shares of companies with exposure to insurance business including Aditya Birla Nuvo and Reliance Capital ended with 2-5 per cent gain today.

Meanwhile, rupee gained for the fifth day to touch a five and half month high, breaching 52 against dollar for the first time since April 20, 2012.

Globally, Asian stocks ended mixed while European shares pared losses ahead of Bank of England's and the European Central Bank's meets later in the day.

In Asia, key benchmark indices in Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan rose by between 0.09-0.89 per cent while indices in South Korea and Taiwan shed by between 0.03- 0.17 per cent.

European stocks see-sawed in their early trades and were quoting slightly better in the afternoon trade. Key benchmark indices in UK, France and Germany were up between 0.15-0.28 per cent. Indication of higher opening in US index futures also boosted the market sentiment, said dealers.

Speaking on domestic markets, Kishor P Ostwal, CMD, CNI Research Ltd said: "As expected, Nifty climbed but finding resistance at 5800 level...support for Nifty lies at 5630 and if broken then we can see 5500 in October." Among Sensex, BHEL was the

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