Real estate firms today led the gains in the opening trade rising as much as 13 per cent after the government unveiled a booster package to accelerate the demand in the housing sector.
The country's largest real estate developer, DLF, gained 9.77 per cent to Rs 223, while Unitech surged to Rs 34.70, up 12.66 per cent in the morning trade.
In its fiscal stimulus package, the government yesterday said that the public sector banks would soon unveil a package for those seeking home loans of up to Rs 20 lakh and promised measures that would accelerate the "growth trajectory".
While Parsvnath Developers surged 10.83 per cent to Rs 44, Omaxe gained 8.93 per cent to Rs 55.50 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Demand in the residential segment has declined in the last six months on account of high interest rates on housing loans and steep rise in property prices during last two to three years, experts said.
To give a fillip to the real estate sector, particularly housing sector, the Reserve Bank of India had, on Saturday, said that banks can classify housing loans up to Rs 20 lakh as "priority sector" advances, subject to a ceiling of five per cent of their total priority sector target.
Other major gainers in the sector include Housing Development & Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) (9.47 per cent), Ansal Housing (11.20 per cent) and Sobha Developers (5.49 per cent).
The BSE realty index surged 8.25 per cent to a high of 1,831.86 points within the first few minutes, leading the Sensex to a high of 9,406 points during the trade.
