Mumbai, Oct 15 (IANS): Indian equities markets notched up handsome gains this week with benchmark indices gaining about 5 percent as traders took hope from signs of concrete steps being taken by European countries to contain the debt crisis.

A higher than expected earnings performance by IT bellwether Infosys helped software stocks climb higher on expectations of similar results from other heavyweights in the sector.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) put on the best performance in six weeks as it regained the 17,000-mark.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) ended the week at 17,082.69 points, up 5.24 percent or 850.15 points from its previous week's close at 16,232.54 points.

The 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also rose 244.25 points or 4.99 percent during the week at 5,132.3 points.

Broader markets too rose with the BSE midcap index closing 3.87 percent higher, while the BSE smallcap index ended 2.77 percent up compared to last Friday's close. The BSE 500 index too rose 4.54 percent.

"The rally to 17,000 was led by the IT heavyweights including Infosys, TCS and Wipro. Infosys came up with strong guidance which added momentum to the IT stocks. Besides, banking stocks also did well with that index rising by about 7-8 percent for the week," said Sanjeev Zarbade, vice president, private client group research, Kotak Securities.

"For the global equities, the week has been good as markets recovered from the lows. The recovery has been driven by greater coordination and solidarity between European Union nations in finding a resolution to the debt crisis. For the week, almost all major markets performed in line and posted gains in the range of 3-4 percent," he added.

Metal and banking stocks led the recovery in the markets towards the end of the week. Sterlite Industries and Jindal Steel surged more than 8 percent.

Prominent Sensex gainers on a weekly basis were: Tata Motors, up 17.3 percent at Rs.179.90; Jindal Steel, up 14.2 percent at Rs.525.15; Reliance Industries, up 10.3 percent at Rs.866.80 and ICICI Bank, up 9.2 percent at Rs.890.45.

Losers included Maruti Suzuki, down 7 percent at Rs.1,028.45; Coal India, down 3.3 percent at Rs.322.30; Tata Power, down 1 percent at Rs.100, and ONGC, down 0.5 percent at Rs.266.65.

Other Asian markets too rose during the week. Compared to last Friday, Japan's Nikkei rose 1.65 percent to close at 8,747.96 points and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index advanced 4.49 percent to end at 18,501.79 points.

On weekly basis, the Shanghai Composite index put on 3.06 percent to close at 2,431.37 points.

European markets also rose as a consensus seemed to be building on the expansion of the European Financial Stability Facility -- a fund which is supposed to be used to ease out countries from the debt crisis.

Britain's FTSE 100 gained 3.07 percent in the week to close at 5,466.36 points. The German DAX advanced 5.14 percent and ended at 5,967.2 points, while the French CAC 40 index moved up 3.95 percent to close at 3,217.89 points Friday.

Wall Street too saw handsome gains.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 4.88 percent up on a weekly basis and closed at 11,644.49 points, while the S&P 500 rose 5.98 percent at 1,224.58 points Friday.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq was the best performing among other indices, rising 7.6 percent to end the week at 2,667.85 points.