Buying interest came back to Indian bourses this week, with a benchmark index surging 3.44% against its last weekly closure and foreign investors pumping in alround $1 billion in the shortened four-day trading week.

The 30-share index BSE Sensex gained 564.94 points to end the week at 16,994.49, whereas the broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) to mark its closure at 5,088.7, up 166 points.

During the week, the BSE midcap index surged 5.28% and the BSE smallcap index gained 5.36%.

Among top gainers on the Sensex during the week were Tata Motors, Tata Power, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel and DLF.

The major losers included ONGC, Ranbaxy Labs and Maruti Suzuki.

SEBI data showed that foreign funds purchased shares worth $942.05 million during the week. Stock markets were closed on Monday because of Holi.

According to the BSE, the top sectors that attracted buyers interest comprised metals and real estate (both surged 7%), auto (increased by 5.3%) and banking (zoomed 3.8%).

Among international markets, London's FTSE gained 4.6% during the week to close at 5,599.76 after investor confidence got a boost on better than expected US job loss data.

In the US, Wall Street rallied Friday on the positive jobs statistics with benchmark indices such as the Dow Jones industrial average surging 122.06 points, the Nasdaq increasing 34.04 points, and the S & P 500 zooming 15.72 points. (With Input from Agencies)