Sensex up by 469.60 pts, closes at 13,049.35

Mumbai, Mar 8: The Sensex today surged by a whopping 469.60 points, breaching the 13,000 psychological level, and closed in the green at 13,049.35 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, taking cue from buoyant southward bound Asian markets.

''This is the biggest single day gain for the Sensex since June 15, 2006. The spurt has been triggered by Nikkie, which ended with gains of around 325 points,'' market analysts said.

Among the broader markets, the Nifty index of the NSE too was bullish today, soaring by 134.80 points to close at 3761.65 from its previous close of 3626.85 points.

The Asian markets have recovered from a recent steep fall triggered by frightening losses in Chinese stocks and jitters about health of the US economy. Key benchmark indices in the region were up by 1 to 2 per cent.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the economy will probably grow by more than 9 per cent in the current financial year ending March 31.

The government will release the weekly wholesale price inflation data tomorrow. The inflation rate is forecast at 6.03 per cent for the 12 months to February 24, marginally down from 6.05 per cent.

Among BSE scrips, the blue-chips rose almost across-the-board and a host of small-cap and mid-cap shares too were in demand.

FMCG major Hindustan Lever jumped nearly 10 per cent to Rs 184.50 in what has been the scrip's biggest intra-day gain in months.

Cement, banking shares, power equipment makers, construction, telecom shares and pharma pivotals led the surge.

PSU power equipment major Bhel surged by 7 per cent to Rs 2165, Gujarat Ambuja Cements gained 8 per cent to Rs 112.65, HDFC Bank vaulted 7.7 per cent to Rs 987, Ranbaxy surged by 6.9 per cent to Rs 331, Dr Reddy's Lab rose 6.4 per cent to Rs 675, Grasim advanced 6.9 per cent to Rs 2250 and L&T rose 5 per cent to Rs 1527.

Telecom shares rose for the second day in a row on the eve of the listing of Idea Cellular on Friday. Reliance Communications surged 5.8 per cent to Rs 434.90, and Bharti Airtel gained 5.8 per cent to Rs 764.

Idea Cellular debuted on the bourses today. It had priced its IPO at the upper end of Rs 65 - Rs 75 price band following a strong response to the issue.

Reliance Industries (RIL) advanced 3.6 per cent to Rs 1336.85, and IPCL jumped 11.8 per cent to Rs 259. RIL had yesterday disclosed that its board will meet on March 10, to consider a proposal for merging subsidiary, IPCL, with the company.

Steel shares bounced back on renewed buying due to firm global steel prices. Sail jumped 15 per cent to Rs 107, and JSW Steel rose 8 per cent to Rs 447.70.

Tata Steel gained nearly 4 per cent to Rs 428.90, off the session's low of Rs 399. Shareholders of the Corus Group have agreed to Tata Steel's USD 12 billion takeover of the European steelmaker.

Investors representing 97 per cent of the shares backed the purchase, Corus said.

US stocks ended with modest losses yesterday, hurt by persistent concerns about slower growth and weakness in the housing market, amid a diminishing appetite for risk.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell by 15.14, or 0.12 per cent, to 12,192.45.

The Standard&Poor's 500 index declined 3.44 points, or 0.25 per cent, to 1,391.97 and the Nasdaq composite index lost 10.50 points, or 0.44 per cent, to 2,374.64.

Oil was steady at USD 61.82 a barrel after surging 2 per cent, a day earlier due to falling US crude stocks.

UNI