Renewed buying interest on the back of strong set of Q2 numbers and overwhelming response to the Coal India IPO saw the markets' surge in trade on Thursday.
The losses of the last two trading days were more than recovered as FMCG, metal and energy shares flared up.
The day started on a quiet note, amid subdued cues from the Asian counterparts on reports of China's economy cooling down.
However, the bulls looked in charge thereafter as the indices gained momentum in the second half of the day.
The Sensex soared to a high of 20,293, and finally settled with a gain of 388 points at 20,261.
The NSE Nifty zoomed to a high of 6,114, and ended with a gain of 119 points at 6,102.
Among the sectoral indices - the FMCG index surged over 3% to 3,688. The Metal, Oil & Gas and Bankex rallied over 2% each to 17,231, 10,973 and 14,152, respectively.
The market breadth too was extremely positive - out of 3,090 stocks traded today on the BSE, 1,854 advanced and 1,079 declined.
Among the index 30 stocks - Hindalco and Bharti Airtel zoomed over 5% each to Rs 213 and Rs 337, respectively.
Hindustan Unilever surged 4% to Rs 305. ITC and Cipla rallied around 3.5% each to Rs 174 and Rs 345, respectively.
SBI, Reliance Industries and Tata Power moved up around 3% each.
Reliance Communications, Mahindra & Mahindra, DLF, Tata Steel, TCS, BHEL, Larsen & Toubro, Maruti and Jindal Steel were the other major gainers today.
The midcap index ended at 8403 up 113 points and the smallcap index ended up 109 points at 10,691.
Zuari Industries was the top gainer among the midcap stocks, it ended at 853 up 6.6% followed by Gujarat State Fertilisers & Chemicals, United Phosphorus and Indiabulls Financial Services up more than 6% each.
Tilaknagar Industries was the top gainer in the smallcap stocks, up 14% at Rs 101, followed by Om Metals, Maharashtra Polybutenes, Ajmera Realty and Kanai Industries up more than 10% each.
FMCG index was the top gainer among the sectoral indices, the index ended at 3679 up 3.19% or 113 points followed by Oil & Gas, Metal, Realty and Healthcare indices up more than 1.7% each.
Hindustan Unilever lead the rally among the FMCG stocks, up 3.7% at Rs 304 followed by ITC, Nestle India, United Spirits and McLeod Russel up more than 1.7% each.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries was the top gainer among the Oil & Gas stocks.
It was followed by Aban Offshore, Essar oil, Indian Oil Corporation and GAIL India up 1.25% each.
