Mumbai, Oct 18 (IANS) Led by healthy buying in bank, metal, capital goods, oil and gas and automobile sectors, a benchmark index of Indian equities markets surged over 500 points in Friday's trade.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 20,486.78 points, closed at 20,916.71 points (provisional), up 501.20 points or 2.45 percent from the previous day's close at 20,415.51 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 20,918.98 points and a low of 20,486.78 points in intra-day trade.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also made healthy gains. It closed at 6,199.85 points (provisionally), up 154 points or 2.55 percent.

Healthy buying was observed in bank, metal, capital goods, oil and gas and automobile sectors. 

The S&P BSE bank index gained 492.55 points, while metal index was up 302.50 points, capital goods index was higher by 261.20 points, oil and gas index was 187.56 points up and automobile index was 153.82 points up.