Bangalore: Fueled by the tax reform plans announced by the government and the global cues, the Indian equity market surged by 498.33 points from its previous close. The government has proposed to bring down corporate tax to 25 percent and it also plans to abolish Securities Transaction Tax (STT). Removing levy on the securities is likely to lead to higher volumes as the cost of transactions goes down. The U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to let interest rates remain unchanged and the positive outlook of an economic recovery saw the Indian markets opening with a positive gap of 188 points. Intense buying thereafter saw the index rally to higher levels as the day progressed. The chart showing the 52 week performance of Sensex is on the left. Indian equities markets staged a rally Thursday, with a key index shutting shop 498.33 points higher than its last closing figure. The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 14,953.44 points, ended near its intra-day high at 15,518.49 points, up 498.33 points or 3.32 percent. The index had risen to a high of 15,530.947 points in intra-day trading during the last 15 minutes, but slipped to end a tad lower. The Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) too closed in the green, adding 147.50 points to its previous closing figure to end at 4,605.00 points. Broader market indices closed in positive terrain as well, with the BSE midcap index ending 3.59 percent up, while the the BSE smallcap index closed 4.11 percent higher. All the 13 sectoral indices ended on the gaining side, with greater buying activity seen in realty, metal, auto and banking stocks. The market breadth was positive, with 2,215 stocks advancing, 517 declining and 62 remaining unchanged. All 30 stocks on the Sensex ended up as gainers, prominent among them being DLF, up 7.21 percent at 400; ICICI Bank, up 6.53 percent at 756.95; Maruti Suzuki, up 6.41 percent at 1,373.60 and Tata Steel, up 6.04 percent at 470.50. In other Asian markets, the Nikkei 225 Stock Average, a key index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, closed 82.19 points higher than its previous close at 10,517.19 points, a gain of 0.79 percent. The Hang Seng, the primary index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, too, was ruling higher at 20,861.3 points, up 426.06 points or 2.08 percent. European shares were up with economic reports on Britain and Germany giving positive indications about an economic revival. In Britain, the FTSE 100 index was ruling 1.42 percent higher at 4,783.72 points after the Bank of England said inflation would be well below the target of 2 percent in two years. Its French peer, the CAC 40, too was up 1.25 percent at 3,551.06 points. Germany's DAX rose 1.7 percent to 5,441.16 points after the government said the gross domestic product had risen 0.3 percent in the second quarter ending June. For more information on the tax reforms visit Finance City