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The Sensex rebounded by over 176 points to finish at 33,970, while the Nifty reclaimed the 10,500-mark as investors piled into recently-battered metal, capital goods and consumer durables stocks.
The 30-share BSE index Sensex opened higher at 33,912.49 and hovered in a range of 33,995.40 to 33,802.13 before finishing at 33,969.64, showing a gain of 176.26 points or 0.52 per cent. The gauge had lost 263.45 points in the previous three sessions.
Similarly, the 50-share NSE index Nifty also closed higher by 61.60 points, or 0.59 per cent, at 10,504.80 after shuttling between 10,513 and 10,441.45.
Continued foreign fund inflows and positive global cues supported the uptrend. Domestic sentiment was also buoyed as the Nikkei Services Business Activity Index rose to 50.9 in the month from 48.5 in November. Similarly, the Nikkei India Composite PMI Output Index rose to 53 in December from 50.3 in November.
Among BSE sectoral indices, capital goods index was the star-performer and was up 2.02 per cent, followed by metal 1.96 per cent, consumer durables 1.69 per cent and PSU 1.37 per cent. On the other hand, realty index was down 0.3 per cent, auto 0.28 per cent and IT 0.13 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were Tata Steel (+3.74%), Dr Reddy's (+3.14%), L&T (+3.08%), ONGC (+2.92%) and Asian Paints (+2.71%), while the major losers were Tata Motors (-0.81%), PowerGrid (-0.67%), Axis Bank (-0.4%), Infosys (-0.37%) and Maruti (-0.37%).
Investors are awaiting December-quarter results, including from Tata Consultancy Services Ltd and Infosys Ltd that are scheduled late next week, amid signs the economy is recovering after the withdrawal of high-denomination currency bills in late 2016 and the introduction of a national goods and services tax last year.
“Market is showing action for individual stocks,” said Deven Choksey, founder, KR Choksey Investment Managers.
Coal India was the top percentage gainer on the NSE index, rising as much as 2.8 per cent to its highest since November 29, while L&T climbed up to 2.4 per cent to an all-time high. Tata Steel gained as much as 2.8 per cent to its highest since June 2008, while State Bank of India rose up to 2 per cent.
Metal stocks also continued to rise on the back of upbeat commodity prices, with the Nifty Metal index rising as much as 1.9 per cent to a record high.
As per provisional data, foreign institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 96.31 crore yesterday, while domestic institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 269.20 crore.
Asian shares scaled a 10-year high on Thursday as solid economic data from the United States and Germany reinforced investors' optimism while oil prices hovered at 2-1/2-year high with unrest in Iran stoking supply disruption concerns.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan ticked up 0.1 per cent, coming near its 2007 peak, with Australian shares hitting a decade high. Japan's Nikkei jumped 2.0 per cent on its first trading day of the year while the broader Topix hit its highest level since 1991.
The S&P 500 index rose above 2,700 for the first time on Wednesday and other major indexes hit record closing highs as technology stocks climbed after signs of robust economic growth.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 98.67 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 24,922.68, the S&P 500 gained 17.25 points, or 0.64 per cent, to 2,713.06 and the Nasdaq Composite added 58.63 points, or 0.84 per cent, to 7,065.53.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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