The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index climbed to its highest in two weeks, after the inflation rate fell to the lowest since early March, fuelling hopes that the Reserve Bank of India will cut interest rates further.

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The index also posted its best first-day gain of 2.66 per cent in a decade in percentage terms. The previous best was 8.81 per cent on the first day of the year 2000. It closed at 9,903.46 points On Thursday, up 256.15 points.

Interestingly, the Sensex has mostly settled on a positive note on the first day of trading every year since 1999.

The S&P CNX Nifty Index on the National Stock Exchange added 74.30, or 2.5 per cent, to 3,033.45. The BSE 200 Index climbed 2.7 per cent to 1,187.19. Nifty futures for January delivery rose 2.7 per cent to 3,045.65.

The US market also closed in the green yesterday with Dow Jones and S & P 500 up by 1.25 per cent and 1.42 per cent, respectively. Even the Nasdaq Composite was up by 1.70 per cent. Most Asian markets were closed On Thursday.

Rajesh Jain , chief executive officer of Pranav Securities, said that some cash-rich funds are buying at a time when interest rates are going down.

Domestic institutional investors were net buyers of Rs 160.44 crore, and foreign institutional investors were net buyers to the tune of Rs 92.04 crore. The market breadth On Thursday was fairly positive: Out of 2,560 stocks traded, 2001 advanced and 493 declined.

The realty index went up by 6.52 per cent followed by metal (6.02 per cent), capital goods (4.73 per cent) and information technology (3.83 per cent). Among stocks, ICICI Bank gained 3.6 per cent to the highest level in two weeks. Oil & Natural Gas Corporation rose 2.7 per cent and Sterlite Industries gained 6 per cent.

Satyam Computer Services rose Rs 10.9, or 6.4 per cent, to Rs 181.70, the highest since December 16. Tata Consultancy Services also gained Rs 18.95, or 4 per cent, to Rs 496.85, the most since December. 18.

Unitech surged by 9.61 per cent to Rs 44.50.

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