Equity benchmarks maintained their gaining momentum for
the second straight session on Thursday, with Sensex gaining over 874 points
helped by index heavyweights Reliance Industries, Infosys and HDFC twins amid a
mixed trend in global markets.

The BSE benchmark Sensex surged 874.18 points or 1.53% to
finish at 57,911.68. During the day, it jumped 954.03 points or 1.67% to
57,991.53. The NSE Nifty jumped 256.05 points or 1.49% to 17,392.60.

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All the sectoral indices ended in the green with bank,
pharma, auto, IT, power, realty and capital goods indices up 1%-2%. The BSE
midcap and smallcap indices rose 1% each.

Major gainers from the 30-share Sensex pack include
M&M rose 3.50%, Maruti Suzuki rose 2.70%, Bajaj Finserv rose 2.46%, Asian
Paints rose by 2.38%, Reliance Industries rose 2.35%, Kotak Mahindra Bank rose
2.32%, HDFC rose 2.25%, TCS rose 2.08%, Sun Pharma rose 1.98%, Infosys rose
1.93% and IndusInd Bank rose 1.88%.

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In contrast, Tata Steel down by 0.88%, Nestle down by
0.60% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.63% were the laggards.

The rupee rallied 15 paise to close at 76.15 against the US dollar.

Among Asian market peers, Tokyo and Seoul settled in the
green, while Hong Kong and Shanghai ended lower.

European markets were trading mostly higher in the
afternoon session.

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US stocks had ended on a mixed note on Wednesday.

International oil benchmark Brent crude went up 1.40% to
USD 108.3 per barrel.

“Bulls came back strongly today after a pretty long
wait helped by the Energy sector which is seeing robustness in gross refining
margins. Almost all sectoral indices led by Automobiles traded in the Green
with the volatility index cooling off.

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“Accumulation seen in some of the big boys which led
the fall during the last one week helped the Bulls get back strongly
today,” according to S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP securities.

According to stock exchange data, foreign institutional
investors continued their selling spree, offloading shares worth a net Rs
3,009.26 crore on Wednesday.