Buying in realty, capital goods, metal and IT stocks following firm global cues lifted the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex today by over 109 points to end at one-week high of 19,252.61, extending gains for second straight day.

Smart rise in shares of L&T, Infosys, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, RIL, SBI, TCS, Sterlite, Tata Steel, ONGC, BHEL and Hindalco mainly supported the Sensex surge.

However, fall in ITC, HUL, M&M and HDFC Bank counters limited the rise to some extent.

The Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share barometer resumed higher and moved in positive terrain throughout the day before ending at 19,252.61, a gain of 109.44 points or 0.57 per cent.

Yesterday, it had registered its biggest gain in the current calender year by rising 265.21 points.

The 50-issue CNX Nifty of the NSE also improved further by 34.35 points or 0.59 per cent to settle above 5,800-mark at one-week high of 5,818.60 today.

Brokers said the domestic market got a boost after Asian stocks closed with marked gains while European stocks too were trading higher in early trade due to smart rise on Wall Street last night on signs of an improving US economy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up by 0.89 per cent to all-time closing high of 14,253.77, breaking the previous peak of 14,164.53 set on October 9, 2007.

In the domestic market, IT stocks attracted investors on account of weak rupee, interest-rate sensitive scrips rose higher as hopes of a rate cut in RBI's policy meet later this month gained further ground, dealers said.

Second-line stocks, which bore the brunt in recent days, remained in the limelight for the second day in a row on good buying by retail investors at low levels. BSE-Smallcap and BSE-Midcap indices outperformed the Sensex, closing up by 1.50 per cent and 1.14 per cent respectively.

Asian stocks ended higher after Dow Jones Industrial Average surged to a new peak yesterday. Key benchmark indices in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea rose by 0.22 per cent to 2.13 per cent.

From European markets, the CAC was trading up by 0.28 per cent in early deals, DAX by 1.35 per cent and FTSE by 0.36 per cent.

Moving to the domestic market, 18 scrips out of the 30- share Sensex pack ended with gains while 12 others finished with losses.

"The Indian stock market continued its upward journey backed by strong international cues and no negative domestic news," said Milan Bavishi, Head Research, Inventure Growth & Securities.

Major gainers from the Sensex were Sterlite Ind (4.60 pc), Hindalco (3.25 pc), Tata Motors (2.68 pc), L&T (2.86 pc), Tata Steel (2.59 pc), BHEL (2.19 pc), Wipro (1.86 pc), SBI (1.67 pc), Infosys (1.56 pc), ICICI Bank (1.15 pc), TCS (1.14 pc) and RIL (1.03 pc).

However, M&M dropped by 2.16 per cent, followed by HUL (1.98 pc), ITC (1.57 pc) and Maruti Suzuki (1.21 pc).

Realty sector was the star performer of the day on hopes of key interest rates cut. Led by DLF, the S&P BSE-Realty index ended higher by 4.52 per cent and was the top gainer from sectoral indices.

Among other sectoral indices, the S&P BSE-CG rose by 2.47 per cent, followed by S&P BSE-Metal (2.20 pc), S&P BSE-IT (1.32 pc) and S&P BSE-Teck (1.04 pc) while S&P BSE-FMCG closed down by 1.05 per cent.

The total market breadth continued to show positive trend as 1,730 stocks firmed up while 1,116 stocks declined. Total turnover rose to Rs 1,959.81 crore from Rs 1,787.69 crore yesterday.

Meanwhile, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 220.80 crore yesterday as per the provisional data from the stock exchanges.