The BSE Sensex crossed the psychological 21,000 level by surging over 400 points in early trade on Thursday following heavy fund inflows amidst exit polls forecasting good show by the BJP in state assembly elections.
At 10.13 am, Sensex was up 389.57 points at 21098.28. Similarly, Nifty was up 117.45 points at 6278.40 duriing the same time.
Brokers said a flurry of buying by funds as well as retail investors, triggered by exit polls predicting good show by the main Opposition party in state assembly elections, buoyed the trading sentiments.
The rupee on Thursday rose by 30 paise to trade at fresh one-month high of 61.75 against the dollar in early trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market on increased selling of the US currency by exporters, amid sustained foreign capital inflows.
The 30-share index, which had lost 189.30 points in the previous two sessions, rebounded by 439.55 points, or 2.12 per cent, to trade above 21,000 level at 21,148.26 in early trade.
All the sectoral indices, led by banking, capital goods and realty, were trading in positive zone with gains up to 4.02 per cent.
The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty spurted by 121.90, or 1.98 per cent, to 6,282.85.
Major gainers are ICICI Bank, SBI, HDFC Bank, RIL, Infosys, TCS, ITC, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Auto, Larsen and Toubro and BHEL.
In the Asian region, Japan's Nikkei fell 0.35 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.40 per cent in early trade on Thursday.
The US Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.16 per cent lower in Wednesday's trade.