Sensex surges over 500 points, Nifty soars to fresh all-time high

 Stocks staged a strong recovery on Thursday, with Nifty notching up a fresh all-time high and Sensex surging over 500 points as investors went on a buying spree in IT, technology and automobile stocks.

After volatility persisted for most part of the session, the benchmark indices rebounded in the last one hour of trading amid improving domestic macroeconomic indicators and positive global cues.

The 30-share benchmark Sensex soared 535.15 points or 0.74 per cent to close at 73,158.24 points. As many as 22 Sensex constituents closed in the positive territory and the index touched an intra-day high of 73,256.39 points.

The broader Nifty climbed 162.40 points or 0.74 per cent to hit its highest-ever closing level of 22,217.45 points.

During intraday trade, the index touched the peak of 22,252.50 points and 25 Nifty constituents ended the session with gains. Nifty recorded its previous lifetime peak at 22,196.95 points on February 20.

BSE midcap index gained 0.92 per cent, largecap index climbed 0.81 per cent and smallcap index rose 0.54 per cent.

Among sectoral indices, BSE Auto gained the maximum by 1.85 per cent, followed by IT which rose by 1.83 per cent and Capital Goods which went up by 1.80 per cent. BSE Tech rose 1.59 per cent, while industrials climbed 1.50 per cent and power ended 1.38 per cent higher.

In the Sensex pack, HCLTech rose the maximum by 3.12 per cent, followed by ITC which gained 2.73 per cent and M&M went up 2.61 per cent. TCS climbed 2.44 per cent.

Bellwether auto stock Maruti gained 1.79 per cent, while Tata Motors rose 1.20 per cent. Tech Mahindra, Wipro, L&T and Maruti were among the other major gainers.

However, stocks of all major banks closed in the red with IndusInd Bank falling 1.87 per cent, HDFC Bank dropped 1.28 per cent, Kotak Mahindra Bank declined 1.11 per cent and SBI slipped 0.73 per cent. BSE Bankex was the only index that ended with a marginal loss of 0.04 per cent.