A strong rally in the stock market, the biggest in the last two months,

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today added an estimated Rs 1.5 lakh crore to the investors' wealth.

The market benchmark Sensex today surged by 515.97 points, the biggest one-day gain since August 29, when it had soared by 567.50 points.

In the process, the total investor wealth, measured in terms of cumulative market value of all listed stocks, soared to Rs 62,64,794 crore, from Rs 61,26,291 crore before the trading commenced this morning.

This was the first trading session on Indian bourses after Diwali, a festival of wealth and prosperity.

The markets were closed yesterday, while a brief muhurat (inaugural) trading was conducted on Diwali day on August 26, when the Sensex posted a modest gain of 34 points.

The 30-share index today settled at 17,804.80 points, as bluechips like ICICI Bank, RIL, L&T, HDFC, Tata Motors and HDFC Bank posted smart gains.

This is the biggest closing level in nearly three months since the Sensex closed at 17,940.55 points on August 3.

About half of the total gains registered today in the investor wealth was contributed by the 30 Sensex companies.

The total market value of 30 Sensex stocks today rose by about Rs 80,000 crore to Rs 29,40,420 crore, mostly with contributions from companies like Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, ONGC, Coal India and HDFC.

In percentage terms, the biggest gainers were Hindalco, Sterlite, DLF, Jaiprakash Associates, Jindal Steel, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, L&T, Bhel, ONGC, HDFC, RIL, Coal India and NTPC.

Maruti, Bharti Airtel and Bajaj Auto were the only three Sensex stocks that ended in the negative territory.