Sensex scores biggest ever gain of 893.5 pts

Stock market barometer BSE Sensex on Wednesday registered its biggest one-day gain of 893.58 points to settle at the third-highest level ever on buying by investors in bank counters and blue chips such as Reliance Industries.

The BSE Barometer opened firm at 19,336.96 points then rallied to an intra-day high of 19,987.71, a jump of 952.23 points or 5 per cent. It later closed at 19,929.06, gaining 4.69 per cent over Tuesday's close of 19,035.48 points.

RIL, the country's most valued firm, soared by 7.11 per cent. HDFC Bank gained 10.81 per cent, while HDFC rose by 6.51 per cent at close.

"The market gain was because of global cues. Besides, the political development also gelled well with the sentiment. The rally was driven by short covering, strong buying by domestic investors and HNIs. However, there was not much involement by foreign investors," Asika Stock Brokers' Paras Bodhra said.

The rally came after a downward correction of about 10 per cent from the intra-day peak of 20,238.16 on October 30 to a trading low of 18,333.21 on November 12.

The previous biggest one-day gain was on October 23 this year, when the Bombay Stock Exchange barometer rose 878.85 points after market regulator SEBI allowed sub-accounts of Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) to trade.

The broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also zoomed by 242.50 points or 4.26 per cent to 5,937.90 from previous close of 5,695.40.

Strong global cues, easing worries over the US credit crisis and indications of a softening of hardline by the Left parties on the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal powered the rally, market players said.