Mumbai, April 9: The sensex today shot up by 321 points on the back of strong Asian markets and short-covering by operators.

As it streaked past the 13000-mark today, the BSE bellwether overturned the losses suffered last week on account of RBI’s surprise decision to raise the cash reserve ratio (CRR) and the repo rates. The spike also cheered up investors on the eve of fourth-quarter results of India Inc.

The sensex today opened firm at 12904.85, moved up to a high of 13194.00 before closing at 13177.74, a rise of 321.66 points, or 2.5 per cent, from Thursday’s close.

The S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also rallied to finish at 3843.50 compared with the previous close of 3752, a gain of 91.50 points or 2.44 per cent.

A broad-based rally was the feature of trading today, with heavyweights as well as mid-cap and small-cap stocks joining the party. All the 11 sectoral indices of BSE moved up with gains ranging from 1 percentage point to 3.25 percentage points. There were 1,915 gainers and 613 losers among the traded stocks today.

Even banking stocks, which took cover after the RBI clampdown, notched up gains today.

“In the recent sessions, mid and small-cap stocks did not see buying. However, many of these stocks seem to be now attractively priced,’’ an analyst said.

Brokers said the markets today took cue from the rest of Asia where Japan’s Nikkei was higher by 1.48 per cent and China’s Shanghai composite index by 2.27 per cent.

Short covering also propelled stocks today. “The fall seen last week, was more of a knee-jerk reaction. The India growth story remains intact. It was perhaps this feeling that led to the short-covering,” a broker said.

However, the trading volume was low at Rs 3,092.91 crore. Tata Steel registered the highest turnover of Rs 133.48 crore.

The market is now waiting for the results of Infosys and the guidance of the company for this fiscal, to gauge the short-term trends. Infosys will announce its results on April 13. There is a concern over its numbers after the recent surge in the value of the rupee. There are also fears of a muted guidance by the company this fiscal, which will impact stocks.