Sensex ends up 106pts

The Sensex has ended (provisional) at 17,490 - up 106 points. The Nifty ended at 5,233 - up 35 points.
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(Updated at 1510 hrs)

The Sensex is up 118 points at 17,501. The Nifty is up 32 points at 5,230.

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(Updated at 1359pm)

The markets have pared some of their gains in the noon session. The Sensex is now quoting at 17507, higher by 124 points and the Nifty is at 5235, up 37 points. The mid-cap and small-cap indices are trading marginally higher at 6747 and 8484 respectively.

The leading gainers on the Sensex are ICICI Bank (strengthened by 1.9% at Rs 949), Hindalco (appreciated by 1.9% at Rs 172) and Sun Pharma (up 1.8% at Rs 1699). Reliance infra, Tata Steel and L&T are the other major gainers.

The top Sensex losers are Hindustan Unilever (weakened by 1.3% at Rs 223), Maruti (shed 1% at Rs 1444) and Tata Power (shed 0.9% at Rs 1367).

And index heavyweight Reliance Industries is trading flat, with a positive bias, at Rs 1069.

The market breadth is positive. Out of 2868 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 1428 advancing stocks as against 1332 declines.