India's benchmark share market index ended over two percent higher Monday as investors picked up heavyweight equities after the last few sessions' range-bound trade.
A sharp rally in shares of Reliance Industries, which had been badly battered in the last one week's trade amid an ownership rift within the promoter's family, also helped the market stage a smart rally.
Dealers said the stock market opened for the day on a positive note and after initial weakness due to lack of large-scale institutional participation, staged a recovery to touch sharply higher levels.
Mirroring the bullish market sentiment, the stock market barometer 30-share Bombay Stock Exchange sensitive index or Sensex closed at 6,157.77, representing a gain of 122.74 points or 2.03 percent over its previous session's close.
"The market sentiment received a major boost from hopes that the ongoing family feud in Reliance Industries may come to an end soon," said an equity market analyst with a domestic brokerage firm.
"A recovery on Reliance counters also helped the market gain strength since the company accounts for significant weightage in the benchmark index. The overall market mood is very bullish," added the analyst.
"If investors manage to put the Reliance imbroglio behind them, then we are in for a major upward rally towards the end of this year. The index may breach the record high before the year end."
Shares of Reliance Industries, India's largest private business conglomerate, gained 1.2 percent to touch Rs.509.80 after shaking off early weakness on large-scale institutional buying.
Reliance Energy, the power utility arm of Reliance Industries, ended 1.1 percent at Rs.555.30 a day ahead of the company's board meeting to consider resignations of six directors amid the raging ownership controversy.
Shares of Reliance had gone into a freefall in the past one week after it was first reported that Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries, had admitted to ownership rift with his younger sibling and vice chairman Anil Ambani.
Reliance Industries, India's largest private business conglomerate with Rs.800 billion in annual sales and interests in a wide spectrum of industrial sectors, accounts for a significant weightage in the overall market barometer.
Among other major gainers, shares of Maruti Udyog, the country's largest carmaker, rose 5.7 percent to Rs.419.75 on hopes that the company would announce impressive sales figures for November.
Shares of Tata Motors, Hero Honda Motors, Mahindra and Mahindra, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Hindustan Lever, Oil and Natural Gas Corp, and tobacco giant ITC also ended higher.
--Indo-Asian News Service