The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today climbed to two-week high, gaining 360 points

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on foreign fund inflows and firm global markets on reports that the world's leading bankers are evolving a plan to help resolve the euro zone crisis.

Sensex, which gained 115 points yesterday, opened 590 points up. However, it witnessed some profit-booking and closed 359.99 points up at 16,483.45, the level last seen on November 17.

In all, 25 of the 30 Sensex stocks closed with gains, led by Reliance and Infosys -- the two which carry the heaviest weight on the index.

RIL was up 2.53 per cent, while Infosys gained 1.74 per cent. ICICI Bank rose 6.76 per cent to its highest level in two weeks following the recent fall. The stock had plunged 23.5 per cent in November.

The National Stock Exchange index Nifty regained the 5,000 level intra-day, but ended at 4,936, up 104.80 points.

Brokers said cues from Asia and Europe were firm as after the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the central banks of Canada, Britain, Japan and Switzerland agreed to provide funding to resolve euro zone debt crisis.

Sectorally, the metals index gained 4.14 per cent to 10,648.03, followed by bankex -- up 3.72 per cent at 10,217.20. Realty index gained 3.54 per cent to 1,626.74 and consumer durables, 2.58 per cent to 5,789.62.

Market @ 09.00 AM (PTI)

The Sensex rallied more than 3 per cent to a two-week high on Thursday, joining their global peers as investors bet on improved overseas fund inflows after the world's six major central banks moved to tame a liquidity crunch for European banks.

Shares in Ranbaxy Laboratories jumped as much as 11 percent after the US Food and Drug Administration confirmed it had given approval to the drugmaker to make the first generic version of the cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor.

The US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the central banks of Canada, Britain, Japan and Switzerland said in a joint statement on Wednesday they had agreed to provide cheaper dollar funding.

"The coordinated move by the central banks yesterday has improved sentiment for risky assets across the globe," said Kaushik Dani, fund manager with Peerless Mutual Fund. "The hope is this will result in rise in liquidity flow in the near term."

Foreign funds are net sellers this year of about $527 million of Indian shares as of Tuesday, compared with a record investments of more than $29 billion in 2010.

The main 30-share BSE index was trading up 2.72 per cent at 16,561.43 by noon, after surging 3.7 per cent in opening deals. All but one of its components gained.

Shares in ICICI Bank, India's No 2 lender, rose as much as 8.9 per cent to their highest level in two weeks, helped in part by a Morgan Stanley report that said the stock would rise in absolute terms over the next 15 days after the recent underperformance.

ICICI had dropped 23.5 per cent in November, compared to a nearly 9 percent drop in the benchmark index.

Maruti Suzuki, the country's largest car maker , gained 2.2 per cent to Rs 993.50 after an 18.5 per cent drop in November vehicle sales were in line with expectations and better than a 53 per cent slump in October. Rival Tata Motors was trading 6.1 per cent up at Rs 183.40 ahead of its monthly sales numbers.

Energy major Reliance Industries and software services bellwether Infosys rose 3.2 per cent and 2.5 per cent, respectively, on institutional buying amid increase in appetite for risky assets, dealers said.

Ranbaxy, the country's top drugmaker by sales that is majority owned by Japan's Daiichi Sankyo, pared gains to 4.7 per cent at Rs 455.

The 50 share NSE index was trading up 2.65 per cent at 4,960.35 points. In the broader market, there were nearly five gainers for every loser on strong volume of more about 260 million shares.

Analysts said there were doubts about sustaining the rise because of domestic headwinds such as sharp economic slowdown and uncertainty over the fate of crucial reform proposals. The euro zone debt crisis also was a concern.

India's manufacturing sector expansion slowed in November as factory output grew at its slowest pace in nearly three years although export demand should provide some cheer for factories, a survey showed on Thursday.

The BSE index, which fell 8.9 per cent in November, is down more than 19 per cent this year to be among the world's worst-performers. "Fundamentals have to take priority sooner than later, and they have not changed much. The domestic growth scenario, for one, is not looking very positive," Dani said.

Data on Wednesday showed Indian economy grew 6.9 per cent in the last quarter, its weakest pace in more than two years, and economists suspected the pace of growth may languish at seven percent in the coming quarters.

Proceedings in parliament have been abruptly called off every day so far since the session started last week as the opposition demand rolling back of a plan to open up the $450 billion retail sector to foreign supermarkets.