Sensex rises to 31 month high

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Monday jumped by 338 points to close at a 31-month high on heavy buying in metal, refinery and IT stocks backed by a firming global trend.

The 30-share index settled 338.62 points higher at 18,560.05 points, a level never seen after February 2008.

Trading sentiment turned bullish after a stunning growth in the U.S. employment and manufacturing eased concern that the global economy might falter and boosted the outlook for domestic companies, which in turn lift shares of software exporting companies.

The Sensex touched the day's high of 18,600.30 as market heaviest Reliance Industries, Infosys Technologies and Tata Steel recorded handsome gains.

Reliance Industries shot up by Rs. 27.60 to Rs. 953.20 and second heavy-weight Infosys Technologies by Rs. 59.85 to Rs. 2,831.50. Tata Steel rose by Rs. 35.65 to Rs. 575.60 and ICICI Bank by Rs. 38.05 to Rs. 1,037.70.

All the four stocks carry nearly 32 per cent weightage on the benchmark. In the 30-BSE index components, 26 stocks closed with gains and four ended in the negative zone.

The broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty rose by 97.55 points to 5,576.95.

Companies in the U.S. added more jobs than forecast in August and the Institute for Supply Management's factory index unexpectedly increased, reports showed on Saturday.

The Asian stock market gained followed by a higher closing in the U.S. markets and a firm opening in the European region continued to support the market throughout the session.

The metal sector index gained the most by rising 3.47 per cent to 15,878.80 as Tata Steel, the biggest producer of alloy climbed its highest close since May 13 after product prices have been raised by nearly four per cent.

Hindalco Industries, the biggest aluminum producer that gets most of its sales in North America and Europe, rose by Rs. 8.15 to Rs. 178.55 on report the company plans to spend Rs. 100 billion on projects this year.

The banking sector index added 2.06 per cent to close at 12,728.73 points. The realty sector index rose by 1.98 per cent to 3,557.08 followed by oil and gas index by 1.97 per cent to 10,178.23.

The IT index, which represents software companies, gained 1.88 per cent to 5,563.32. The country's nearly 40 per cent software business comes from the U.S. and European markets.

With the buying activity spilling over a wide-front, the smallcap index rose by 1.83 per cent to 10,094.52 and midcap index by 1.31 per cent to 7,961.81.