Sensex up more than 200 points as stocks rally on global cues

With stock prices soaring higher in early trades this morning on strong global cues, the BSE benchmark Sensex zoomed to 18,392.99, gaining nearly 240 points in the process. Though a few blue chips have retreated a bit subsequently, the Sensex is now high up in positive territory at 18,362.78 with a gain of 208.79 points or 1.15%.

The Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange, which rose to 5596.55, is now up 65.45 points or 1.2% at 5587.40.

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A positive close on Wall Street overnight on the back of some upbeat U.S. economic data on on slightly easing worries about the financial crisis in eurozone on hopes of a second bailout package for Greece, and the resultant rally in Asian markets set up a solid platform for the bulls at the Indian ring. Heavy inflow from foreign institutional investors since the beginning of this calendar year appears to have buoyed up sentiment to a significant extent.

Capital goods, power, realty and bank stocks are among the top gainers. Mirroring impressive gains posted by key stocks from these sectors, the indices tracking their performance have moved up by 2.3% - 3.3% now.

Several stocks from PSU, metal and consumer durables sectors too have moved up sharply. Select stocks from automobile, healthcare, FMCG and information technology sections are up with smart gains. Besides a number of large cap stocks, scores of midcap and smallcap stocks are up in positive territory with strong gains at present.

PSU heavyweights BHEL and Larsen & Toubro are up 7.3% and 2.7% at Rs 306 and Rs 1487 respectively.

Among the heavyweights in the banking space, State Bank of India has notched up a gain of 4.3%. ICICI Bank is up 2.6% and HDFC Bank is trading higher by a little over 1%. Axis Bank has gained 4.5% and Punjab National Bank is trading more than 1.5% up, while Kotak Bank is up with a gain of 1.3%.

Sterlite Industries and DLF are up 3.3% and 3.1% respectively. ONGC has gained around 2.3%. Coal India, Tata Power, Tata Motors, NTPC, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Steel are up 1.4% - 2% now. Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, HDFC, GAIL India, Jindal Steel and Sun Pharmaceuticals are up with modest gains.

IDFC (4.1%) and Reliance Communications (3%) are up sharply on strong buying enquiries. SAIL, Reliance Infrastructure, Sesa Goa, ACC, Ranbaxy Laboratories, Reliance Power and HCL Technologies are also up with impressive gains.

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Among the prominent early losers, BPCL and Hero Motocorp are trading lower by 1.7% and 1.3% respectively. Bajaj Auto is down nearly a percent and Maruti Suzuki is down with a loss of 0.7%, while Infosys and Wipro are down marginally from their previous closing levels.