The benchmark indices ended on a very strong note on the first day of the May series on the back of positive Asian cues and huge institution buying. The benchmark indices saw biggest single day gain since Oct 31, 2008. The Sensex closed above the 12,000 mark while the Nifty closed above the 3650 level. Buying was witnessed across the board, IT, capital goods, metals, auto and banking stocks led this sharp rally today. The Sensex closed the day at 12,135 up 6.4% or 732 points after hitting an intra-day high of 12,161. The Nifty surged 5.1% or 180 points to settle at 3,654 after hitting a high of 3664. In the Broader indices - BSE Midcap Index was up 3.91% or 137 points and Smallcap Index closed up 3.57% or 140 points.

Movers & Shakers

The BSE metal index jumped 8.8 % on heavy buying in Sterlite, Hindalco and Tata Steel. The stocks rose over 10 %.

The BSE IT index surged 8.4 %. In the IT sector, HCL Tech, NIIT and Wipro were the prominent gainers up more than 10 % each.

The BSE bankex advanced 7.9 %. In the banking space, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra and Axis Bank rose over 9.5 % each.

The capital goods index on the BSE also rose 5.8 %. Punj Lloyd, Siemens and L&T surged 8-10%. BHEL was up 3.34%.

The Auto index was up 4.62% or 161 points at 3,659. M&M, Tata Motors, Bharat Forge and Maruti Suzuki were up 3-13%.

All Sensex stocks ended higher today. Sterlite Industries zoomed 16.5 % and was the biggest gainer in the pack. Hindalco, HDFC and M&M up over 13 % each were the other major gainers in the group.