By IANS
Mumbai : Indian bourses rose in late trade to end their four-day losing streak, with the benchmark index rising over 3 percent on the back of buying in blue-chip scrips led by IT, metal, auto and oil and gas shares.
The 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) vaulted 593.87 points or 3.36 percent to close at 18,242.58.
The Sensex hit a high of 18,312.40 in late trade. At the day’s high, it gained 663.69 points and hit a low of 17,534.96 in early afternoon trade. At the day’s low, the Sensex lost 113.75 points.
The bellwether index oscillated in a band of 777.44 points for the day.
The broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange jumped 179.80 points or 3.50 percent to close at 5,317.25 points.
Despite the hefty gains, market breadth was negative in contrast to positive breadth in early trade.
A total of 1,630 shares declined on BSE as compared to 1,120 that advanced. Forty-eight shares remained unchanged. Twenty-eight out of 30 Sensex stocks advanced.
European markets, which opened after Indian markets, advanced. Asian markets, which opened before Indian markets, rallied after witnessing a shaky start.
The BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.23 percent at 7,749.02 points while the BSE Small-Cap index slipped 0.51 percent to 10,073.11 points.
IT stocks surged. India’s fourth largest software services exporter Satyam Computer was the biggest gainer of the day. The scrip surged 7.88 percent to Rs.419.90 on 723,000 shares.
The three major gainers for the day were Infosys Technologies, up by 5.4 percent to Rs.1,585, Wipro, up 6.21 percent to Rs.499, and TCS, up by 6.71 percent to Rs.934.
Auto stocks also gained on fresh buying. Tata Motors, the country’s top truck maker in terms of sales, advanced 6.35 percent to Rs.751.
Maruti Suzuki India was up by 6.15 percent to Rs.900.90, Bajaj Auto gained 4.26 percent to Rs.2,456 and Mahindra & Mahindra was up by 0.84 percent to Rs.675.