Mumbai: Notwithstanding a rise in inflation and a sharp hike in prices of petrol and diesel, the market surged up to a strong finish, rising by 58 points on hectic buying prompted by downtrend in global crude oil prices.

Well supported by consistent net purchases by domestic mutual funds, operators enlarged their commitments on the last session of the week, driving the market sharply up at close.

The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index opened steady at 5833.33 and gradually moved upwards to the intra-day high of 5900.51 before ending the day at 5891.36 as against yesterday's close of 5832.88, a net gain of 58.48 points or one per cent.

The Government's decision to raise petrol and diesel prices by more than Rs two per litre, however, led to a sharp rally in refinery stocks as the price hike would help oil companies to increase their earnings.

Refinery stocks like HPCL, BPCL, IOC, RIL, ONGC, IBP, Kochi Refinery and ONGC scored impressive gains.

The market seemed to have temporarily discounted negative impact of a 0.28 per cent rise in inflation to 7.38 per cent for the week ended October 23 with fears of a further rise attributed to a hike in prices of petrol products.

Meanwhile, global crude oil prices fell in Asian trade to $ 48.59 a barrel at noon.

The sentiment was also aided by a smart upsurge on Wall Street last night. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite Index ended up by 177.71 points and 19.30 points respectively.

The broad-based BSE-100 Index spurted by 30.19 points to 3148.45 from previous close of 3118.26.