Rising for the third straight session, the Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange closed with a modest gain of 34 points, or 0.2 percent, at 16,711, today. The Nifty at the National Stock Exchange, which crossed the 5,000-point level in intra-day trade, added 7 points, or 0.1 percent, to 4,966.br/br/Other Asian markets hit their highest levels in 13 months. Key stock indices in Japan, China, Hong Kong and South Korea gained between 0.5 percent and 2 percent, after US economic data raised hopes that the global economic recovery is strengthening.