Mumbai, June 15: The benchmark Sensex on Friday surged by 272 points to a six-week high of 16,949.83 points on strong hopes that central banks worldwide, including RBI, are likely take concerted steps to contain damages in case Greece exits Eurozone.

Interest rate sensitive auto, banking and realty stocks drove the key index up by 271.95 points or 1.63 per cent to log the second straight week of gains.

The market received further support on firming trend in the Asian region and higher opening in European indices that tracked a 1.2 per cent rise in American stocks on Thursday.

“Markets ended the day surprisingly strong... there were reports that central banks in the developed world are ready to help contain any negative fallout of Greek elections,” said Dipen Shah, Head of Fundamental Research, Kotak Securities.

The ongoing Eurozone crisis has taken a heavy toll on markets worldwide. Investors have been anxiously awaiting the Greece polls which will be decisive for the country’s future in the Eurozone. Global markets believe a Greece exit would be disastrous for the fragile recovery of the world economy.

In the 30-share Sensex, 27 scrips ended higher led by Tata Motors which rallied 5.75 per cent on Friday after suffering its biggest drop in two weeks on Thursday.

Asian stocks ended mostly higher in choppy trade on Friday after reports central banks of major economies are ready to provide liquidity if needed after crucial elections in Greek on Sunday.

Key benchmark indices in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Indonesia and Singapore rose by 0.01 per cent to 2.26 per cent while South Korea’s Kospi fell by 0.71 per cent.

European stocks headed north in their early trade on Friday.

Key benchmark indices in London, France and Germany were up by 0.72 per cent to 1.52 per cent. An indication of a higher opening in US index futures also boosted the market sentiment.

Out of the 30-share Sensex pack, 27 scrips finished with gains. Major gainers included Tata Motors (5.75 per cent), ICICI Bank (3.11 per cent), Coal India (2.72 per cent), Hindalco (2.7 per cent), Maruti Suzuki (2.7 per cent), M&M (2.54 per cent), HDFC Bank (2.52 per cent), L&T (2.27 per cent), Bharti Airtel (2.15 per cent) and HUL (2.12 per cent).

Sun Pharma (2.05 per cent), NTPC (1.68 per cent), Tata Steel (1.67 per cent), TCS (1.62 per cent), ITC (1.56 per cent), RIL (1.54 per cent), Tata Power (1.52 per cent) and SBI (1.33 per cent) also ended higher.

However, Sterlite fell by 1.57 per cent and Bajaj Auto shed 1.41 per cent.

Among the sectoral indices, the BSE-Auto index shot up by 2.57 per cent, followed by the BSE-Bankex (2.19 per cent), the BSE-Realty (1.78 per cent), the BSE-Capital Goods (1.54 per cent), the BSE-FMCG (1.43 per cent), the BSE-Metal (1.28 per cent), the BSE-Power (1.25 per cent) and the BSE-IT (1.12 per cent).

The market breadth turned positive as 1,525 stocks ended in green while 1,165 stocks finished in red.

The total turnover declined slightly to Rs 1,722.99 crore from Rs 1,772.86 crore on Thursday.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 105.08 crore on Thursday as per provisional figures from the stock exchange. (PTI)

New Delhi, June 15: Crisis-ridden Air India faced fresh trouble on Friday with its executive pilots serving a warning that they cannot maintain the truncated global flight schedule “much longer” as they are stressed and do not want to jeopardise lives of pasengers and crew.

These senior and management-level cockpit crew have been operating 38 out of 45 flights as part of a truncated international schedule after nearly 400 Air India pilots went on strike on May 7 to protest alleged discrimination in career progression vis-a-vis their counterparts in the erstwhile Indian Airlines.

“We are fatigued and stressed and do not want to jeopardize the lives of our passengers and crew. In the light of the above mentioned problem (strike), we don’t want to be held responsible or blamed by the management for disruption of the flight schedule, further alienating passengers who have continued to have faith and trust in us,” the Executive Pilots’ Association (EPA) said in a letter to Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh.

“As there appears to be no resolution to addressing the core problem of the agitating pilots in sight, the senior executive pilots of the airline would like to state that the present flying schedule is unmaintainable,” it said. The EPA said that flying the truncated international schedule “with just 100 executive pilots is pushing us beyond our limits and we are experiencing the symptoms of cumulative stress and fatigue and will not be able to maintain the schedule for much longer.”  (PTI)