Sensex zooms 447 points on global cues

After a month on the edge, markets rallied sharply on Friday on the back of what is being viewed as easing up of hawkishness on the Fed rate.

Strong cues from global markets, especially the Dow Jones Index, which gained close to 2 per cent on Thursday's trade, helped the domestic bourses right from the opening bell.

The Sensex opened up over 150 points and traded firmly in the green all day. It touched an intra-day high of 10,626.84 and closed at 10,609.25, registering a gain of 4.4 per cent (447 points) on Thursday's close.

The Nifty traced a similar pattern, netting a gain of 130 points to close at 3,128.2, up 130.3 points from Thursday's close.

Analysts said the 25 bps hike in the Fed rate was well within the expected range, and the easing of worries about rapidly rising interest rates in the US was a big factor on Friday. More encouragingly, the Fed did not say that further firming up of policy might be needed. Markets had already factored in the latest hike, they said.

Reliance Communication Ventures was the biggest gainer among the Sensex stocks. The counter closed 11.71 per cent up at Rs 248.95 after touching an intra-day high of Rs 252.