Mumbai, Oct 6 (IANS): The Indian stock market surged on Tuesday, with the BSE Sensex jumping 600 points backed by healthy buying in banking and finance stocks.

The BSE Finance index rose 3.04 per cent while the Banking index was up 2.06 per cent. The BSE Auto index also increased 1.25 per cent due to healthy sales numbers reported by auto companies for September.

The Sensex closed at 39,574.57, higher by 600.87 points, or 1.54 per cent, from the previous close of 38,973.70.

It had opened at 39,336.34 and touched an intra-day high of 39,623.76 and a low of 39,191.10 points.

The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange closed at 11,662.40, higher by 159.05 points, or 1.38 per cent, from its previous close.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC (8.35 per cent), IndusInd Bank (3.44 per cent) and Mahindra & Mahindra (3.33 per cent). The major losers were Tata Steel (down 1.26 per cent), Nestle India (1.03 per cent) and Larsen & Toubro (0.46 per cent).