After taking a day's breather, the benchmark BSE Sensex today bounced back by 233.70 pts to a seven-week high of 27,079.51 on rally in tech and commodity stocks as details from the last US Fed meeting indicated that it is in no rush to raise interest rates.
Buying ahead of the earnings season, which begins next week with Infosys scheduled to report second quarter numbers on Monday, also buoyed market sentiments.
"The US Federal Reserve meeting minutes released yesterday indicates a dovish stance, which has increased optimism on the possibility of a delay in rate hike," said Vinod Nair, Head- Fundamental Research at Geojit BNP Paribas Financial.
The 30-share Sensex opened firm at 26,974.92 and advanced to a high of 27,200.44 before ending 233.70 points or 0.87 per cent higher at 27,079.51 -- its highest close since August 21.
Yesterday, the Sensex dipped for the time in seven days after losing 190.04 points as participants locked-in gains in blue-chip stocks.
In early trade, after recapturing the 8,200-mark, the 50-share NSE Nifty touched a high of 8,232.20, but on profit- taking at higher levels, it slipped to close at 8,189.70, still up by 60.35 points or 0.74 per cent.
On weekly basis, both Sensex and Nifty surged 858.56 points (3.278 pc) and 238.80 points (3 pc), respectively -- indexes second straight weekly rise.
The recovery in Sensex was supported by gains in Vedanta that zoomed 11.58 per cent, while Tata Steel surged 4.26 per cent.
Other gainers included Tata Motors (3.81 pc), Infosys (3.13 pc), ICICI Bank (2.75 pc), ONGC (2.13 pc), GAIL (1.97 pc), Hindalco (1.89 pc), Cipla (1.50 pc), ITC (1.21 pc), Bharti Airtel (1.17 pc) and Hero MotoCorp (1.01 pc).
Shares of housing finance firms gained as much as 9.69 per cent after Reserve Bank allowed lenders to offer loans up to 90 per cent for properties that cost up to Rs 30 lakh.
Consequently, GIC Housing Finance surged 9.69 per cent, Dewan Housing Finance Corp gained 2.88 per cent, HDFC rose 1.01 per cent and LIC Housing Finance was up 0.75 per cent.
In broader markets, the BSE small-cap rose 0.19 per cent on increased buying by retail investors, but mid-cap shed 0.06 per cent.
Global cues were also positive with Asian markets ending higher and European stocks in better shape in their opening deals.
