Sensex closes 180 pts up at 2-year high on RBI rate cut hopes, Maruti Suzuki in limelight

Among banks, State Bank of India shot up by 2.23 per cent to Rs 2,513.25, ICICI Bank by 0.76 per cent to Rs 1,172.75, Bank of Baroda by 4.71 per cent to Rs 880.70 and Bank of India by 4.70 per cent to Rs 364.40.

In realty space, DLF, Unitech India Bulls Realestate and Sobha Developers closed with gains on expectations that a rate cut would boost home loan business.

Metal shares like Jindal Steel, Sterlite Ind, Hindalco and Tata Steel ended higher with gains.

Recently battered second-line stocks also were in the limelight on good buying support from retail investors, said market experts. HDIL, which tanked over 38 per cent on the last 4 days, jumped by nearly 11 per cent today.

Globally, most Asian stocks closed lower while Japanese stocks finished with sharp gains, boosted by fresh multi-year lows for the yen. Singapore shares also ended better.

However, European markets were quoting higher in the afternoon trade. The DAX was up by 1 per cent, the CAC by 0.37 per cent and the FTSE by 0.09 per cent.

Back home, 23 scrips out of the Sensex pack finished with gains while the remaining seven declined. Among other major gainers from Sensex were Sun Pharma (2.62 pc), Cipla (1.37 pc), ONGC (1.40 pc), L&T (1.37 pc), HUL (1.37 pc), Gail India (1.29 pc) and Dr Reddy's Lab (1.02 pc).

Among losers, Tata Power dropped by 1.03 per cent and CIL by 0.73 per cent. RIL

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