BSE Sensex ends up 2.4 pct; rises for 2nd week

By Prashant Mehra

MUMBAI (Reuters) – The BSE Sensex rose 2.36 percent on Friday, recovering from opening losses on gains in offshore bourses, with the market posting a second consecutive weekly gain for the first time in three months.

Reliance Industries, India's most valuable listed firm, rose 4.1 percent to 1,219 rupees, contributing most to market's rise as its shares reclaimed some of a nearly 20 percent drop over the previous two days.

Cigarette maker ITC Ltd rose 3.6 percent to 174.80 rupees and mortgage lender Housing Development Finance Corp Ltd added 2.6 percent to 1,700.50 rupees. The three shares account for about one-quarter of the main index.

"It looks like investors covered shorts, with Asian markets strong and cues from Europe were also positive. Today foreign fund selling may also have been on the lower end," said Ketan Dedhia, Managing Director at Nalanda Securities.

The main 30-share BSE index rose 230.07 points to 9,964.29, with 25 components gaining, after opening down 1.05 percent. It is still down 51 percent in 2008 to be one of the worst performing Asian markets.

The index ended the week up 1.8 percent, after rising 12.5 percent the week before, although it closed below 10,000 points for a fourth week.

In the broader market, gainers outpaced losers 1,423 to 1,131 on volume of 286.5 million shares.

The 50-share NSE index rose 2.78 percent to 2,973.00.