The BSE Sensex has emerged as the second biggest gainer in Asia today after Hong Kong"s Hang Seng. Today"s rally was driven by the banking index which has gained more than 280 points in the day till now.

Shares of State Bank of India surged more than 3% after the lender announced that it will receive USD 1.6 billion from the government as equity infusion.

At 4.00 pm IST, the 30-share BSE Sensex was closed at 117193.55 up by 330.25 points or 1.96% and NSE Nifty was closed at 5199.25 up by 111.95 points or 2.20%.

In Asia, most of the markets were trading in positive terrain, the Nikkei 225 up by 9.46 points and was at 8802.51.The Hang Seng was up by 230.49 points and was at 20,390.38. Shanghai was up by 7.44 points and was trading at 2,292.48

Among sectoral indices on BSE, all the sectors ended positively. Bankex, realty, Auto, Metal and TECk leading the rally.

On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the top volume gainers were Hindalco, Reliance Communication, Sesa goa, IDFC, Axis Bank posted gains between 6.02%-8.07%.

And the loser in today trade were Coal India, Siemens, PNB, Cairn and Maruti.