The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark index Sensex on Thursday shot up by almost 192 points in opening trade on a flurry of buying by funds, bolstered by an unexpected announcement of a liberal bonus share issue by Reliance Industries Ltd.
The 30-share BSE Sensex recovered by 191.92 points to 16,998.58 points in opening trade with oil and gas, public sector, auto and metal sector stocks leading the rally. The BSE barometer had lost 151.88 points in the previous session on late sell-off.
The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty moved up by 50.20 points, or almost one per cent at 5,035.95 points.
Sentiments turned extremely bullish after the country's top company in the private sector, Reliance Industries Ltd last evening announced an unexpected bonus share issue in the ratio of one share for every share held and a 130 per cent dividend, or Rs 13 per share.
Stocks of RIL, having the highest weight of about 16 per cent in the 30-share index, went up by 5.24 per cent to Rs 2,209 on the BSE with over 5.58 lakh shares changed hands in opening trade.