A marginally optimistic budget, impressive monthly auto sales numbers along with optimistic economic reports encouraged the reaction on Dalal-Street.

The 30-share index Sensex expanded profits hitting a fresh peak of 18,476.08 on continued buying activity seen across board.

Automobile, banking, capital goods, real estate and metal space aid the Sensex to mark its closure above 18,400 level.

Finally, the BSE Sensex surged 623.33 points (3.50%) to end the day at 18,446.73 with 30 components registering profits.

In the meantime, the broad based Nifty climbed 189.05 (3.54%) to mark its closure at 5,522.30 with 50 components recording gains.

While commenting on the rising markets, Mr. Gaurav Dua, Head Of Research, Sharekhan stated, "An eventful Budget which did not cause damage to corporate earnings and softening of crude oil prices driven by few announcements of Saudi Arabia and Libya output which is still going are the factors which led the Sensex to climb over 600 points and to touch day`s high of 18,478.68 mark."

All scrips in the Sensex pack ended on an optimistic note.

The major gainers in the 30-share index comprised Mah & Mah, which surged 8.53%, JP Associates zoomed 7.42%, Maruti Suzuki India gained 7.07%, NTPC climbed 6.47%, ICICI Bank advanced 5.91%, and Hindalco Industries remained up by 5.90%.

There were no losers at the BSE Sensex pack.

Among sectoral indices, the FMCG index added 227.09 points; the Auto index climbed 467.18 points; the Realty index surged 108.53 points and the PSU index remained up by 411.78 points.

The overall breadth of the stock market remained positive as it witnessed 2,118 progressions as against 783 declinations.

The Indian currency on Tuesday surged 32 paise as compared to the US currency to 44.95/96, strengthened by sharp spurt in domestic stocks amid continued dollar selling by exporters and banks. The rupee marked its closure at 45.27/28 on Monday.

The stock indices BSE and NSE remain closed today because of Mahashivratri.