Sensex rally continues, regains 17,200-mark

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sens*x continued its rally for the second day on Tuesday by gaining over 272 points on sustained buying by fund houses driven by better than expected economic growth and firm global cues.

The Sens*x, which rose by 294 points in previous session, rallied further by 272.05 points to close at 17,198.27 points on Tuesday as heavy-weights Reliance Industries and Infosys recorded handsome gains.

The key-index touched the day's high of 17,218.46 as 27 out of the 30-Sens*x stocks closed with handsome gains while three ended lower.

The broader National Stock Exchange index Nifty 50 too shot up by 89.30 points to 5,122.00, after touching the day's high of 5,130.35 on sustained buying.

The current upsurge was led by Reliance which rallied by 3.30 percent to Rs 1,097.85 and the second heaviest Infosys rose by 0.45 percent to 2,394.75.

While all the sectoral indices were in the green, the sustained rally was driven by the realty, auto, healthcare, refinery, banks and metal counters.

The robust November sales gave an added thrust to the auto counters, which has had an all-pervading influence trading sentiment.

A better trend in Asian stock markets and a better opening in Europe further fuelled the uptrend.