Press Trust of India 

MUMBAI, Aug 3: The key indices on the BSE and NSE on Monday rose to their highest levels in more than a year on encouraging corporate results.

In the last 30 minutes of trading, the 30-BSE Sensex surged by 253.92 at 15,924.23, after hitting the day's high of 15,963.36. Similarly, the 50-stock Nifty shot up to 4,723.75, before ending with a gain of 74.95 to 4,711.40.

Both the indices zoomed to levels last seen on June 3 last year, as funds and general investors bought blue-chip stocks led by the auto and metal sectors.

A firm opening at European stock markets this afternoon further fuelled the uptrend as overseas investors indulged in enlarging their positions in domestic markets here.

The auto index rose the most, by 4.60 per cent, to 5,976.45 after Maruti Suzuki, the maker of half the cars sold in India, advanced on reports that the company improved its sales last month. Maruti gained 3.98 per cent to Rs 1,469.55, to close at its highest since it went public six years ago.

The realty sector surged 4.19 per cent to 4,072.49, followed by the metal sector index, by 3.41 per cent to 12,818.02 as Sterlite Industries rose to a seven-week high after a measure of six metals traded in London jumped 1.7 per cent.