Sensex rallies 412 points on Rajan moves, banks surge

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets surged 412 points or 2.22 percent Thursday and banking stocks made the biggest one-day gain in over four years.

This upsurge came after new Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan unveiled a slew of measures, which raised overseas borrowing limits for lenders.

The rally was led by banking index (bankex), consumer durables, public sector undertakings (PSU), capital goods, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and oil and gas.

However, selling pressure was observed in IT and technology, media and entertainment (TECK) sectors.

The 30-scrip S&P Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 18,857.60 points, closed at 18,979.76 points, up 412.21 points or 2.22 percent from its previous day's close at 18,567.55 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 19,117.52 points and a low of 18,847.02 points intra-day.

The S&P BSE bankex surged by 937.65 points, consumer durables index augmented by 249.91 points, PSU index gained 228.10 points, capital goods index moved up by 243.27 points, FMCG inched up by 174.79 points and oil and gas index increased by 166.28 points.

However, IT index plunged 238.58 points and TECK index dropped 98.41 points.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed trade at 144.85 points or 2.66 percent up at 5,592.95 points.

The major Sensex gainers were State Bank of India, up 9.74 percent at Rs.1,636.25; ICICI Bank, up 9.20 percent at Rs.893.15; Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, up 8.20 percent at Rs.137.20; HDFC Bank, up 7.53 percent at Rs.608.75; Coal India, up 7.02 percent at Rs.283.45; and HDFC, up 5.88 percent at Rs.750.35 .

The major Sensex losers were Sesa Goa, down 4.26 percent at Rs.178.85; Tata Consultancy Services, down 3.37 percent at Rs.1,996.40; and Infosys, down 3.32 percent at Rs.3,002.70.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 0.08 percent up; Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up by 1.22 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index went down by 0.24 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was trading 0.37 percent up, Germany's DAX Index was up 0.14 percent and the French CAC 40 Index was up by 0.26 percent.