The market bounced back with a vengeance, moved up nearly 4 per cent, a 19-month high during the week due to hectic short-coverings amid positive development.
The week began on a sluggish note with the Sensex logging its six-week low, but later it rebounded sharply on the news of rise in advance tax payments by India Inc and the Finance Minister's statement that the stimulus would continue till the next fiscal and the economy would grow around eight per cent this financial year.
Brokers said unexpected softening in food inflation to 18.65 per cent for the week ended December 12 from 19.95 per cent in last week, and a promising 5.3 per cent core sector growth in November against meagre a 0.8 per cent a year ago, helped markets continue spreading Christmas jingles.
The Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share barometer moved in a range of 17,413.69 and 16,577.78 before concluding the week at 17,360.61, a level not seen since May 16, 2008, a rise of 640.78 points or 3.83 per cent over its last weekend's close.
The broader 50-issue Nifty of the National Stock Exchange spurted by 190.70 points, or 3.82 per cent, to settle at 5,178.40, a level not seen since May 05, 2008, from its previous weekend's close.
The bourses were closed on December 25 for Christmas, will remain shut on December 28 for Moharram and again on January 1 for the New Year holiday.
Frenzied short-coverings ahead of holidays and last day of derivatives contract on December 31 mainly supported the market.
The metal stocks were back in demand following reports of the base-metal prices shooting in London, on expectations of a pick up in demand driven by the global recovery.
As a result, the BSE-Metal index led the rally and jumped by a whopping 1,107.44 points, or 6.82 per cent, during the four-day session.
From the Sensex, NTPC shot up by 10.72 per cent, Tata Motors by 9.81 per cent, Tata Steel by 9.18 per cent, Hindalco by 8.76 per cent, Reliance Infra by 6.40 per cent, Sun Pharma by 5.56 per cent, ICICI Bank by 4.51 per cent, Hero Honda by 4.17 per cent, TCS by 3.60 per cent, Wipro by 3.10 per cent and Sterlite Ind by 2.92 per cent.
Among the sectorial indices, only BSE-HC ended in the red. The BSE-Oil&Gas shot up by 472.45 points, the BSE-Power by 137.43 points, the Bankex by 425.09 points and the BSE-PSU by 376.36 points.
The top heavyweight and petro-chem giant, Reliance Inds (RIL), which suffered a sharp setback and dropped by 5.47 per cent last week, notched handsome gains of 3.98 per cent.
During the week, the trading volume on the BSE and NSE dropped further to Rs 17,408.61 crore and Rs 49,997.74 crore as against last week's turnover of Rs 21,891.70 crore and Rs 66,754.71 crore respectively.