Sensex surges 265 points on SEBI, FinMin remarks; ICICI Bank leads rally

The 30-share benchmark index opened at 12,178.18 and touched an intraday high and low of 12,995.20 and 12,153.55 respectively.

Despite Tuesday's gain, the Sensex is still down by about 40 percent percent this year and continues to be one of the worst performers in Asia.

Twenty components rose on Tuesday, with India's largest private sector bank, ICICI Bank, leading the charge. The bank surged 8.42 percent to Rs.534.85 on assurances made by the central bank and the finance minister that it had sufficient liquidity and was well capitalized. Ever since US investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, ICICI Bank's shares plunged on worries that its exposure to Lehman would considerably hurt its balance sheet.

Other financial stocks viz. Housing Development Finance Corporation, State Bank of India and HDFC Bank, taking the cue, jumped 5.33 percent, 4.32 percent and 2.46 percent to Rs.2141.15, Rs.1465.65 and Rs.1229 respectively.

Tech stocks Tata Consultancy Services, Satyam Computer Services and Infosys Technologies soared 6.96 percent, 1.38 percent and 0.40 percent to Rs.662.75, Rs.296.60 and Rs.1397.55 respectively.

Telecom majors Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications climbed 5.14 percent and 2.33 percent to Rs.785.05 and Rs.333.90 respectively.

Auto majors Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra & Mahindra advanced 3.73 percent and 1.43 percent to Rs.687.15 and Rs.509.25 respectively.

Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) moved up 4.16 percent to Rs.2442.85 while top listed Reliance Industries ended up 0.80 percent at Rs.1946.35.

Other gainers were BHEL (up 5.07 percent at Rs.1586), Jaiprakash Associates (up 4.12 percent at Rs.111.10), NTPC (up 3.31 percent at Rs.171.75), ONGC (up 1.20 percent at Rs.1035.55), Hindalco Industries (up 1.09 percent at Rs.97.70), DLF (up 0.51 percent at Rs.352.40) and ACC (up 0.18 percent at Rs.611.65).