Sensex rallies 365 points, records best gain in 2 weeks

Mumbai: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex surged by 365 points today, the best gain in over two weeks, as investors rushed to pick up stocks at lower levels.

The Indian stock market was the leading performer in Asia, with the BSE's 30-share barometer closing the day 2.28 percent, or 365.36 points, higher at 16,387.84 points. The chart showing the 52 week performance of Sensex is on the left.

The Sensex opened firm tracking positive cues from Asian peers and soared 388 points in late mid-session after a strong start to trading in Europe.

The wide-based 50-share Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange also jumped 2.30 percent to settle at 4,917.40.

"The bounce-back in market was mainly driven by buying at lower levels and firm support from global markets. A pull-back in tomorrow's session cannot be ruled out," Emkay Global Financial Services Head-Institutional Equities Ajay Parmar said.

Markets all over the world tumbled yesterday as concerns over the eurozone crisis got aggravated by Spain's move to nationalise an ailing bank. The Sensex tanked by over 465 points yesterday.

The rebound in domestic markets today was a reflection of a solid recovery in world stocks. Asian bourses settled in the green and Europe was also trading higher at mid-session. US markets, too, are poised to open firm, analysts said.

Shares of ICICI Bank climbed 4.72 percent to Rs 847.60 and Infosys advanced 3.37 percent to Rs 2,618.70.

All the sectoral indices of the BSE ended 0.5-3.5 percent higher. IT, realty, metal and technology shares led the rally.

Hindalco shot up 7.30 percent and was the top gainer in the Sensex components. Sterlite Industries rose 1.75 percent and Tata Steel, ahead of its March quarter numbers, moved up 1.21 percent.

In the Sensex constituents, 24 companies gained, whereas six scrips ended the day in the red.

TCS jumped 5.36 percent and Wipro 2.49 percent. HDFC rose 3.18 percent and HDFC Bank 1.27 percent.

Reliance Industries, which has the highest weight on the Sensex, gained 2.08 percent, while L&T rose by 2.81 percent.

Among the losers, RCom declined 2.56 percent, ACC 1.34 percent and BHEL 0.36 percent.