Sensex soars 206 pts to end at 1-wk high as rupee strengthens

Rising for the second day, Sensex today gained over 206 points to end at nearly one-week high on sustained value buying in refinery, banking and auto stocks after the rupee appreciated after six days of losses.

Major Sensex gainers in today's trade were BHEL, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, HDFC Ltd., Coal India, Jindal Steel, Tata Steel, Sterlite Industries, Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra and Mahindra and Sun Pharma.

The 30-share S&P BSE benchmark index Sensex, which had surged 408 points in the previous session, rose further by 206.50 points, or 1.13 per cent to end at 18,519.44 -- the highest closing since August 16 (18,598.18).

Brokers said the stock market sentiment improved as the battered rupee rebounded from all-time low levels of 65.56 to 64.12 per dollar after the government and RBI's assuarances.

The broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty rose by 63.30 points, or 1.17 per cent to 5,471.75. Also, SX40 index, the flagship index of MCX-SX, closed up at 10,960.73, higher by 142.85 points or 1.32 per cent.

In the Sensex pack, Reliance Industries surged 1.64 per cent to Rs 819.05 after the company and its partner BP plc announced a new gas condensate discovery off the east coast in the Cauvery basin.

Private lenders like HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank saw heavy buying as investors judged recent losses as excessive.

Led by over 8 per cent surge in BHEL, the capital goods sector index gained the most rising 2.04 per cent to 7,235.68.

It was followed by banking index by 1.91 per cent to 10,791.32. Oil and Gas sector index rose by 1.59 per cent to 8,191.04 and the auto index by 1.51 per cent to 10,248.18.