MUMBAI: Equities staged a sharp pullback rally on Friday to recover from a 20-month low as the benchmark BSE Sensex surged over 473 points to 24,435.66, tracking gains in global markets on hopes of a fresh stimulus from the euro zone and rebound in oil prices.

Sentiment also got a boost from the rupee, which rebounded from 29-month lows. It strengthened by 36 paise to 67.66 against the dollar (intra-day) at the forex market. However, on a weekly basis, the BSE Sensex fell marginally by 19.38 points or 0.07 per cent while the broader NSE Nifty shed 15.35 points or 0.20 per cent, third in a row.

Global cues were largely positive after a hint of more monetary stimulus by the European Central Bank (ECB) to help struggling eurozone economy and crude prices rebounding from over 12-year lows to trade above $30 a barrel. In the international market, Brent crude rose $1.52, or 5.2 per cent, to $30.77 a barrel. The 30-share Sensex started off strong by opening above the 24,000-mark at 24,122.06 and continued its march to touch day’s high of 24,472.88 before ending 473.45 points or 1.98 per cent, its biggest single-day gains since October 5, at 24,435.66. The gauge had lost 517.63 points in previous two sessions. The 50-issue NSE Nifty after reclaiming 7,400, advanced to hit a high of 7,433.40 points, finally settling 145.65 points or 2 per cent higher at 7,422.45. GAIL was the biggest BSE gainer with a rise of 7.99 per cent, followed by Maruti Suzuki at 5.53 per cent. Other major gainers were Tata Steel, Hero MotoCorp, M&M, SBI, Coal India, Dr Reddy’s, ONGC, NTPC, Axis Bank, L&T, Asian Paints, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, BHEL, Bajaj Auto, Sun Pharma and RIL. Overall, 26 counters from the 30-scrip index gained, while laggards included Bharti Airtel, HUL, Wipro and Infosys. The broader markets too perked up with the small-cap index rising 2.25 per cent and mid-cap gaining 1.90 per cent. Sectorally, metal index gained the most at 4.32 per cent followed by auto 3.65 per cent, PSU 3.48 per cent, infra 3.00 per cent, oil&gas 2.95, banking 2.81 per cent, capital goods 2.66 per cent and healthcare 2.45 per cent. Globally, Japan’s Nikkei rallied 5.88 per cent, Shanghai Composite index ended 1.25 per cent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index surged 2.90 per cent. European shares too were in the green in their early trade.–PTI