Sensex Soars 1,436 Points; Nifty Nears 24,200

(RTTNews) - Indian shares rose sharply on Thursday despite losses in other Asian markets and weak cues from Europe.

Financial, auto and IT stocks topped the gainers list ahead of the upcoming quarterly earnings season.

The benchmark S&P/BSE Sensex rallied 1,436.30 points, or 1.83 percent, to 79,943.71.

The broader market underperformed the frontline indices, with the mid-cap and small-cap indexes on the BSE closing up 0.9 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 2,411 shares rose and 1,560 shares declined while a total of 115 shares were unchanged.

The broader NSE Nifty index closed at 24,188.65, up 445.75 points, or 1.88 percent, from its previous close amid the weekly F&O series expiry.

Automakers soared, with Eicher Motors surging 8.6 percent and Maruti Suzuki India climbing 5.6 percent after reporting robust sales for December.

Among financials, Shriram Finance, Bajaj Finance and Bajaj FinServ jumped 5-8 percent.

South Indian Bank gained 3.3 percent after a healthy Q3 business update.

TVS Motor Company surged 4.2 percent after the company reported a 7 percent rise in total sales in December.