(Lead)

Mumbai, March 25 (IANS) Mirroring strong global cues, Indian stock markets Tuesday clocked their second highest single-day gain as a benchmark index breached the 16,000 mark. The markets that opened in the green as per international cues continued on an upswing, gaining over 6 percent.

Important sectors like metals, realty, oil and gas and banking scrips found full favour with investors. All other sectoral indices closed in the green.

The 30-share Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened at 15,612.61 points and notched a high of 16,262.38 before closing at 16,217.49 points. It gained 928.09 points or 6.07 percent at the day’s close.

The S&P CNX Nifty index on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), which opened at 4,616.80 points, closed at 4,877.50 after touching the day’s high at 4,896.80 points. At day’s close, it registered a rise of 267.65 points or 5.81 percent.

While the BSE Midcap index, which closed at 6,174.49 points, went up 368.96 points or 6.36 percent, the BSE Smallcap index, closing at 7,284.64 points, was up 334.52 points or 4.81 percent.

On BSE, the market breadth was extremely positive with good trading volumes. A total of 2,075 shares advanced, 640 declined and 47 remained unchanged.

All other Asian markets also closed in the green.

The top gainers of the day included Reliance Energy at Rs.1,300.15, up 12.97 percent, Infosys at Rs.1,492.55, up 9.64 percent, DLF at Rs.678.65, up 13.47 percent and Jaiprakash Associates at Rs.233.10, up 16.38 percent.