JOIN USDomestic equities surged high in a choppy trade on Friday as the barometer index of BSE settled above the psychological 20,000 mark for the first time in more than two years on the back of the Government's move to deregulate diesel prices by allowing PSU OMCs to raise diesel prices by a small margin from month to month.
That apart, investor sentiment in D-Street was also buoyed by data showing recovery in China's economy in Q4 December 2012, China being the world's second biggest economy after the United States.
The market surged in early trade, retained positive zone in mid-morning trade and hovered in positive terrain in early afternoon trade.
Thereafter key indices pared intra-day gains but the popular Sensex still regained the 20K mark after falling below that mark for a brief period in late trade.
The Sensex at BSE advanced 75 points or 0.38 percent to settle at 20,039.04, its highest closing level from January 6, 2011. The index jumped 162.52 points at the day's high in early trade and rose 26.59 points at the day's low in late trade.
The 50-unit S&P CNX Nifty at NSE advanced 25.20 points or 0.42 percent to 6,064.40, its highest level since January 5, 2011.