Sensex extends rally, jumps 402 pts on upbeat global cues

Rising for a second straight session, the benchmark BSE Sensex spurted by 402 points today to settle at a one-week high of 25,719.58 led by gains in metal, realty and auto stocks on strong rally in global shares.

Sentiment also got a boost after the government approved several reforms, including allowing telecom companies to sell radiowaves to other service providers.

Tracking overnight gains at the Wall Street, Asian cues today were largely positive, with markets in China stabilising on hopes of a fresh government stimulus and Japanese stocks posting their biggest one-day gain of 7.71 per cent since the height of the global financial crisis in 2008.

The benchmark index resumed over 365 points higher and gradually moved upwards to hit the day's high of 25,820.56 before closing 401.71 points or 1.59 per cent up at 25,719.58 -- its highest closing since September 3.

The gauge has now surged by 826 points in two sessions. Out of 30-Sensex constituents, 27 ended higher. The 50-issue NSE Nifty reclaimed the 7,800-point mark by surging 130.35 points or 1.70 per cent to close at 7,818.60. It logged an intra-day high of 7,846.05.

The rally was across-the-board with all the BSE sectoral indices led by metal and auto ending in the positive range. The rupee strengthening by 31 paise to 66.24 against the American currency also helped, traders said.

Telecommunications stocks such as Bharti Airtel rose 2.44 per cent, Reliance Communication surged 11.57 per cent and Idea Cellular gained 2.12 per cent.

Hindalco was the top BSE gainer with a rise of 7.97 per cent, followed by Vedanta 6.85 per cent, NTPC 5.50 per cent, Tata Steel 4.57 per cent, Tata Motors 3.98 per cent, Maruti Suzuki 3.81 per cent, RIL 2.84 per cent, Infosys 2.76 per cent, Bajaj Auto 2.68 per cent and Axis Bank 2.60 per cent.

"All the sectors ended in green and the major gainers for the day were metal, auto and realty, which closed up to 3.54 per cent higher," said Delhi-based NSE broker Manoj Choraria.

Meanwhile, foreign investors sold shares worth Rs 659.672 crore yesterday, as per provisional data. European stocks were also higher in their late morning deals, tracking gains in global equities amid optimism that China's market turmoil may be contained.