The market firmed up further in afternoon trade led by gains in banking stocks. Realty stocks edged higher. Reliance Industries and ONGC firmed up. Market breadth was strong. 28 out of 30 stocks from the Sensex pack were in green.

European markets, which opened after Indian market, were trading firm in early trade. Asian markets, which opened before Indian market, surged after comments on Wednesday, 28 November 2007, from US Federal Reserve officials raised the chances of another US rate cut in December 2007.

The market has been volatile over the past few days due to alternate bouts of buying and selling amid FII sales caused by redemption pressure in their home countries and fears of a US recession arising from US housing slump and credit crisis.

As 13:20 IST, the 30-share BSE Sensex was up 325.60 points or 1.72% to 19,264.47. Sensex hit a low of 19,128.16 in mid-morning trade. At day's low, Sensex had gained 189.29 points for the day. The Sensex had hit a high of 19,297.01 in early trade. At day's high, the Sensex gained 358.14 points.

The broader based S&P; CNX Nifty was up 97.25 points or 1.73% to 5714.80. Nifty hit a high of 5725 in early trade. At day's high, Nifty had risen 107.45 points.

The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.99% to 8,466.72. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.89% to 10,468.07.

The market breadth was strong. On BSE, 1629 stocks advanced, 1062 stocks declined and 79 stocks remained unchanged.

India's largest private sector firm by market capitalisation and oil refiner Reliance Industries was up 1.73% at Rs 2834.50.

India's largest public sector oil explorer ONGC gained 1.12% to Rs 1163.40. ONGC Videsh (OVL), the overseas arm of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), has reportedly bagged two oil and gas exploration blocks in Brazil. Meanwhile, some reports suggest that the company has found more natural gas in a block in the desert state of Rajasthan. This block was awarded to the company before India moved to a regime of auctioning its oil and gas exploration blocks.

The BSE Bankex jumped 3.37% to 10,739.28. Indian Overseas Bank surged 7% to Rs 156.90, HDFC Bank jumped 4.92% to Rs 1687, Kotak Mahindra Bank rose 2.86% to Rs 1142 and Federal Bank rose 2.75% to Rs 321.

Indias largest private sector bank by assets ICICI Bank moved up 4.64% to Rs 1179.

Realty stocks jumped on television reports that Maharashtra State Assembly has passed repealing of the Urban Land Ceiling Act, leading to more area available for real estate development in the state. The BSE Realty index was up 2.85% to 10,356.24. DLF was up 1.72% to Rs 894.60, Unitech soared 4.71% to Rs 376.60 and Sobha Developers gained 1.40% to Rs 871.

Among the side counters, Lanco Infratech soared 7.31% to Rs 522.70, Bombay Dyeing & Company jumped 6.33% to Rs 710, National Aluminium Company spurted 6.32% to Rs 380, Spice Communications moved up 5.15% to Rs 49 and Mastek rose 4.03% to Rs 289.

In Europe, key indices in UK, and France and Germany were up by between 0.2% to 0.4%.

In Asia, key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Japan, China, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan were up by between 2.06% to 4.27%. The Fed's next policy-setting meeting is scheduled for 11 December 2007.

US markets rallied overnight on expectations for an interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve in December 2007. The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 331.01 points, or 2.55%, at 13,289.45 on Wednesday, 28 November 2007. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 40.79 points, or 2.86% at 1,469.02. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 82.11 points, or 3.18%, at 2,662.91.

Crude oil prices declined sharply for a second day in a row on Wednesday, 28 November 2007.

FIIs sold shares worth a net Rs 978.96 crore in the cash market on Wednesday, 28 November 2007, as per provisional data. Domestic funds bought shares worth a net Rs 331.82 crore on that day.

FII outflow in November 2007, till 27 November 2007, reached Rs 4422.30 crore. FIIs had made heavy purchases in September 2007 and October 2007. FIIs had bought shares worth a net Rs 16132.60 crore in September 2007 and Rs 20590.90 crore in October 2007.

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