Mumbai, Nov. 14: The sensex today leapt 893.58 points — its biggest single-day gain — with local investors overjoyed by Tuesday’s bull rally in the US markets that seemed to signal that worries over the credit crisis there had started to ease.

The bellwether index climbed 4.7 per cent after a flurry of positive global cues: the surge in Asian markets, fall in global crude prices and the strengthening of the dollar.

Petrochemicals maker Reliance Industries (RIL), the top-weighted stock in the index, led the gains, rallying more than 7 per cent. ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank surged nearly 9 per cent and 11 per cent, respectively.

The benchmark 30-share index ended up 4.69 per cent at 19929.06 after touching the day’s high of 19987.71.

While the Nifty rose by 4.26 per cent to settle at 5937.9 points, the BSE 100 nudged up 4.33 per cent to 10051.42 points, and BSE 500 stocks rallied 3.87 per cent to 7596.57 points.

Sectoral gains

Almost all the sectoral benchmark indices ended the day with enormous gains. The bankex, oil and gas, and IT shares led the rally, ramping up by 6.53, 6.40 and 4.51 per cent, respectively.

The rupee rose by 11 paise and ended at 39.32 against the dollar, snapping a three-day losing streak. The currency was driven higher by a strong surge in equity markets amid dollar purchases by banks.

In active trade at the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee moved in a range of 39.31 and 39.39 during the day after resuming firm at 39.37 a dollar from the previous close of 39.43 a dollar.

Banks shine

“The investors have again reacted to global cues. Today’s gains can largely be attributed to Wal-Mart results and large-scale buying in frontline stocks, especially in the power and banking sector. The weakening of the yen against the dollar has been a positive indicator for the market. But, as we said earlier, the market is still very volatile and the investors should be cautious going forward,” said Amitabh Chakraborty, president (equity) at Religare Enterprises Ltd.

“The power sector and PSU banks offer good investment opportunities now.We are not bullish on the IT stocks at the moment,” Chakraborty added.

Among the banking stocks, HDFC Bank was the top gainer with a rise of 10.81 per cent at Rs 1,749.10. Punjab National Bank shares gained 9.46 per cent, while ICICI Bank soared 8.65 per cent to Rs 1,277.90.

Crude impact

The softening of crude oil prices buoyed Essar Oil, RIL, the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and the Indian Oil Corporation. RIL jumped 7.11 per cent to Rs 2,887.50, while the ONGC and Indian Oil grew by 4.39 and 4.18 per cent, respectively.

The broader markets have also participated in the uptrend but the frontliners outperformed the midcap and smallcap indices.

IT heavyweights such as Wipro, Satyam and Infosys made windfall gains as their shares rose by 6.84 per cent, 4.92 per cent, and 4.84 per cent, respectively.

“We are asking our investors to book profit at these levels as the signs of volatility aren’t healthy,” said Harendra Kumar, head of research at ICICI Direct.com.

Metal, power, PSU, technology and realty stocks also advanced. Metal shares rose by 4.16 per cent, led by National Aluminium Company, Jindal Saw and Hindalco, which grew by 14.17, 8.20 and 6.95 per cent, respectively.

In power, CESC was the star performer, vaulting 8.35 per cent to Rs 618.70. Siemens and GVK Power gained 6.42 and 6.03 per cent, respectively.