After two days of erratic trading, the bull operators once again had a field day at Indian bourses Friday with all round buying interest to lift a key market index by 162 points.

In fact, each of the 30 shares that comprise the sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) ended in the positive territory, with intense buying interest in automobile, software, pharmaceuticals, telecom and banking counters.

The Sensex opened Friday at 8,332.93 points, which was also, incidentally, the day's low, indicating the positive outlook and the strength of the Indian stock markets that has continued since the beginning of November.

The key index's climb started immediately and reached the day's high of 8,483.68 points about an hour before the closing bell. The index finally ended the day at 8,471.04 points, 1.95 percent higher than Thursday's close at 8,308.93 points.

Banking stocks and public sector counters outperformed the market, with a gain of two percent and 2.4 percent rise in their respective indices.

"Unlike the past two trading days, when the bulls and bears were an equal match, trading today (Friday) was marked by sustained buying interest and consolidation by investors," an analyst with a brokerage here said.

"The sustained investments by foreign institutional investors during this month, compared with a net sale in October, has also been a comforting factor for the surge in market sentiments," the analyst said.

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram's statement Friday that the Indian economy would grow by over seven percent this fiscal with a revival in foreign investment in a wide range of sectors also contributed to the gains, he added.

Among the Sensex stocks, Wipro led the pack, with a gain of 4.85 percent at Rs.403.90, followed by Hero Honda, up 4.12 percent at Rs.809.20, National Thermal Power Corp, up 4.05 percent at Rs.104.05 and Bajaj Auto up 3.95 percent at Rs.1,872.60.

Bharat Heavy Electricals was up 3.80 percent at Rs.1,294.60, Satyam Computers 3.39 percent at Rs.651.70, Tata Power 3.35 percent at Rs.438.40 and Tata Motors 3.05 percent at Rs.513.70.