With positive sentiments on the Dalal Street, the stock markets, on Thursday, remained bullish and BSE benchmark Sensex surged over 346 points to reclaim the key 33,000-mark.
Driven up by PSU banking stocks, the markets bounced back after witnessing the loss of 554.12 points in last three sessions on subdued exports, higher inflation and muted second quarter earnings of some companies. Both benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty, notched up their single-day biggest gains since November 1.
During the trading session, Reliance Industries led the rally after global crude prices dropped, while Infosys stocks jumped the most.
The 30-share BSE index opened and hit the day’s high of 33,165.15 before settling up 346.38 points, or 1.06 per cent, at 33,106.82. This is the highest closing since November 10 when it had closed at 33,314.56.
The 50-component Nifty closed at 10,214.75, a solid gain of 96.70 points, or 0.96 per cent, after touching a high of 10,232.25 and a low of 10,139.20.
“Bargain hunting in index heavyweights fuelled a surge in the domestic indices. Rapid pace of recapitalisation process has kept the PSU bank stocks buoyant. The steadiness in oil prices on hopes of an extended output deal buoyed the global markets,” said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.
The rally saw market capitalisation of BSE listed companies -- a proxy for investor wealth -- swell to Rs 143.19 lakh crore.
Infosys was the leader of the Sensex team on Thursday, with a 3.85 per cent rise, followed by SBI, Reliance Industries, NTPC and TCS. Buying activity was so strong that all sectoral indices landed in the green.