Mumbai: The market welcomed the appointment of P Chidambaram as Finance Minister soaring by 162 points at close even as operators and domestic financial institutions made hectic purchases following clear indications that the process of economic reforms would be carried forward by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA).

Led by IT bellwether Infosys Technologies, IT stocks hogged the limelight scoring impressive gains on the back of heavy buying support throughout the session.

As a result, the BSE Benchmark 30-share Index opened firm at 4993.45 and gradually moved upwards to the intra-day high at 5132.90 before ending the day at 5123.23 as against last Friday's close of 4961.57, a net rise of whopping 161.66 points or 3.25 per cent.

The statement by Chidambaram after the mid-session that the Indian economy is in a resilient mode and his priority would be to consolidate the growth momentum with special emphasis on agriculture, manufacturing and employment came as a shot in the arm for the market which had already turned optimistic on the Government's commitment on reforms.

Investors turned so much confident that they discounted the anti-privatisation passage in the draft Common Minimum Programme of the UPA government which said strategic PSUs (Public Sector Undertakings) like ONGC, GAIL, HPCL, BPCL, NTPC, SAIL and BHEL and other profit-making PSUs would not be privatised and others would be considered on a case-by-case basis.