Sensex soars 568 points, biggest one-day gain since January 2015

Mumbai: After logging its worst weekly fall in over six years, the benchmark BSE Sensex Monday soared by 568 points to 23,554.12 -- index's biggest single-day gain in more than a year -- as recently battered banking stocks perked up along with sharp recovery in Asian markets.

The index had risen by 728.73 points on January 15, 2015 after Reserve Bank effected a surprise 25-basis point rate cut, the first of the four policy cuts last year.

Also, today's 568-point rise is the second-biggest single-day gain for the BJP-led NDA government since coming to power in May 2014.

Market mood changed for the better after Asian stocks rebounded from recent weakness as fears over global economic slowdown eased and crude prices rallied. China's central bank also fixed the yuan higher as in the nation returned from a week-long holiday.

The Sensex resumed higher at 23,223.43 and firmed up to 23,622.64 before settling at 23,554.12 points -- showing a rise of 568 points or 2.47 percent.

The 50-issue NSE Nifty after reclaiming 7,100, advanced to hit the day's high of 7,182.80 points, finally settling 182 points or 2.61 percent higher at 7,162.95.

In a bloodbath, both the indexes had posted their worst weekly performance since July 2009 with the Sensex falling 1,631 points and Nifty down 508.15 points.

Meanwhile, industrial production declined for a second month in a row, registering negative growth of 1.3 percent in December. Retail inflation in January rose marginally to 5.69 percent from 5.61 percent in December, while reversing four months of rising trend, WPI inflation fell to (-)0.9 percent in January.

Shares of Indian Oil Corporation ended 6.55 percent up after its net profit in October-December came in at Rs 3,056.86 crore as against a net loss of Rs 2,636.80 year ago.

Overall 27 counters from the 30-scrip Sensex gained.

Shares of country's biggest lender, SBI rebounded 7.94 percent to Rs 167.25 on value-buying. Shares of state-run Bank of Baroda too zoomed over 22 percent despite the lender recording the country's highest-ever quarterly loss.

Other major gainers were Tata Steel (13.01 percent), L&T (9.06 percent), Adani Ports (7.02 percent), Axis Bank (6.83 percent), Coal India (6.71 percent), Tata Motors (5.96 percent), ICICI Bank (4.74 percent) M&M (4.65 percent), Maruti Suzuki (4.57 percent), RIL (4.23 percent), ONGC (3.28 percent), BHEL (3.25 percent), GAIL (2.82 percent), Lupin (2.66 percent), Cipla (2.19 percent), TCS (1.93 percent) and Bajaj Auto (1.88 percent).

Among BSE sectoral indices, metal rose 8.79 percent followed by capital goods 6.73 percent, realty (6.17 percent), PSU (4.95 percent), auto (4.27 percent), oil&gas (3.95 percent), infra (3.89 percent), bankex (3.62) and power (2.96 percent).

Buying by retail investors too re-emerged in broader markets helping the mid-cap and small-cap indexes gain 3.47 percent and 3.35 percent, respectively.

In Asia, Japan and Hong Kong rose by up to 7.16 percent, while Chinese shares fell by 0.63 percent.

European stocks were also higher with key indices in France and the UK rising up to 2.93 percent.