Index zooms 492 pts, foreign funds active in many counters.
The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive index climbed to its highest in a month on the back of the government’s stimulus package on Sunday and hopes that a $15 billion bailout of US auto firms will boost the global economy.
Discounting the impact of the overnight fall in US stocks, Asian indices went up by 2-5.6 per cent while European markets showed a mixed performance in early trade.
Realty stocks notched huge gains as the sector is expected to massively benefit from the government's package. The gains in realty stocks could be gauged by the day's biggest rise in the BSE Realty Index, which ended higher by 223.72 points, or 12.56 per cent.
Top listed real estate firm DLF rose 18.9 per cent to Rs 262.65, its sharpest daily gain ever, as funds snapped it up on expectations it would gain from the economic stimulus package and central bank rate cuts announced at the weekend.
The 30-share benchmark index ended up 492.28 points at 9,654.90, its highest close since November 11, with all but one components rising. The market rose 2.2 percent on Monday and was closed on Tuesday for a holiday. The index is still down 52.4 per cent in 2008.
The S&P CNX Nifty Index on the National Stock Exchange gained 144.25, or 5.2 per cent, to 2,928.25. The BSE 200 Index climbed 4.7 per cent to 1,124.89. Nifty futures for December delivery added 5.1 per cent to 2,932.
Reliance Industries was also a massive gainer (up 9.7 per cent), the most in more than a month and ICICI Bank added 8.1 per cent to a one- month high. The two stocks account for about a fifth of the Sensex index.
"We have seen foreign fund buying especially in the beaten-down sectors such as metals, real estate, auto and a few Reliance counters," said K K Mital, head of portfolio managed services at Globe Capital. Mital said investors were cautious and wanted to see if the upbeat mood could be sustained as signs of a slowdown mounted.
Traders said foreign funds also chased Steel Authority of India, which rose 15.8 per cent, Tata Steel, which rose 10.9 per cent, and Reliance Communications, which rose 10.2 per cent.
Drug maker Ranbaxy Laboratories bucked the trend, falling 1.1 per cent to Rs 210.75. Traders said it was weighed down by the lack of resolution in the US Food and Drug Administration probe into failing to fix record-keeping and other operational problems at two of its Indian plants.
