Mumbai, Dec 27 (IANS) Short covering and value buying lifted the Indian equity markets on Tuesday.
The key indices provisionally closed with substantial gains of around 1.5 per cent each, as healthy buying was witnessed in automobile, banking and healthcare stocks.
The wider 51-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) surged by 124.60 points or 1.58 per cent to 8,032.85 points.
The barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 25,815.43 points, provisionally closed at 26,213.44 points (at 3.30 p.m.) -- up 406.34 points or 1.57 per cent from the previous day's close at 25,807.10 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 26,249.03 points and a low of 25,803.19 points during the intra-day trade.
The BSE market breadth was tilted in favour of the bulls -- with 1,692 advances and 875 declines.
On Monday, both the Sensex and the Nifty had plunged as the Prime Minister's major announcement of increasing tax rates, continuous outflow of foreign funds and selling pressure spooked investors.
The barometer index was down by 233.60 points or 0.90 per cent, and the NSE Nifty edged down by 77.50 points or 0.97 per cent.
