It was a roaring start for the May series. The benchmark indices saw a biggest single day absolute gain since October 31, 2008; the Sensex closed above the 12,000 mark while the Nifty settled above the 3650 level. This sharp rally majorly led by metal, technology, banking, capital goods, FMCG and auto stocks. Broader indices also followed the same trend.

Positive global (especially Asian) cues also played a key role in today's gain. The Sensex outperformed the Asian as well as European markets. Among the Asian markets, Straits Times and Taiwan Weighted surged 5.65% each. Hang Seng was up 5.54%. Shanghai Composite and Jakarta Composite gained 3.3% each. Kospi went up 2.09%. Nikkei shut today.

The 30-share BSE Sensex touched 12,000 mark during the day for the first time since October 7, 2008 and went upto a day's high of 12,161.90, before closing the day at 12,134.75, up 6.41% or 731.50 points. The 50-share NSE Nifty surged 5.18% or 180.05 points, to settle at 3,654, after hitting a high of 3664.50. It has hit the 3600 mark for the first time since October 14, 2008.

On the sectoral front, BSE Metal and IT indices shot up over 8%. Bankex gained 8.9% and Capital Goods Index was up 5.9%. FMCG, Realty, Auto, Oil & Gas and Power indices gained 3-5.4%.

On the F&O front, the Nifty futures added 45 lakh shares in open interest (OI). Unitech has seen a build up of 2.2 crore shares in OI. RNRL has added 36 lakh shares and Suzlon added 34 lakh shares in OI. ICICI Bank has seen a build up of 21 lakh shares in OI with a turnover of Rs 955 crore.

Heavyweights like Reliance Industries, Infosys, HDFC, ITC, ICICI Bank, ONGC, SBI, Wipro, L&T, HDFC Bank, TCS and SAIL were biggest contributors in this rally, gained 3-10.5%.

At the time of closing of Indian equities, European markets were trading higher. The CAC was trading at 3,195, up 35 points and the DAX went up 83 points, to 4,852.

Among the US futures, the Dow Jones futures were up 49 points, to 8,230 and the Nasdaq futures rose 11.25 points, to 1,409.75.

Asian markets were trading strong. Taiwan Weighted jumped 6%. Hang Seng, Straits Times and Jakarta Composite gained 3-3.6%. Shanghai went up 2.3% and Seoul Composite gained 1.44%. Nikkei is shut today.