Mumbai, Oct 12 (IANS): A strong rally in blue-chip stocks, especially IT heavyweights, helped a benchmark Indian equities index move up sharply Wednesday and close 430 points higher.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE opened at 16,660.43 points and closed at 16,967.2 points (provisional), up 430.73 points or 2.6 percent from its previous close at 16,536.47 points.

It had risen to an intra-day high of 16,972.97 points.

The 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also ended higher at 5,103.2 points, 2.59 percent or 128.85 points up.

The scrip of IT major Infosys rose about 6.55 percent after announcing an 11 percent jump in net profit at Rs.1,906 crore over the June quarter 2011. Other IT bluechip firms, Wipro and TCS, too climbed on hopes of similar results.

Broader markets also rose handsomely. The BSE midcap index closed 1.41 percent up, while the BSE small cap index ended 1.15 percent up. The BSE 500 index too closed 2.22 percent higher.

The rally came even as the government released industrial output numbers for September, which showed factory production slowing for the second consecutive month.