Sensex ends up 136pts

The Sensex closed (proviosional)at 18,859 - up 136 points. Nifty ended up 46 points at 5,679.
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(Updated at 1434 hrs)

Markets moved up further in late-noon trades as index heavyweight, Reliance saw heavy buying. The Sensex after languishing near the dotted line for most part of the day, surged 187 points to a high of 18,909. The index is now at 18,887 - up 165 points. Nifty is up 51 points at 5,686.

Reliance surged 1.5% to Rs 887 after the government approved the BP deal. The Centre on Friday gave an unconditional approval to the India's biggest private sector company, to sell 30% interest in 21 blocks to British Petroleum. The government, however, withheld permission for another two blocks. Meanwhile, the company is scheduled to announce its June quarter results today.

Asian bourses slipped today as debt worries continued to plague investor sentiments in the US. US leaders failed over the weekend to agree to raise the nation's debt ceiling ahead of a deadline on August 2,2011, giving rise to fears of a sovereign default. The global financial crisis, which was rooted in poor regulation of the US housing and banking sectors, already tarnished perceptions of the United States overseas....

Bank of India posted a 28% decline in net profit at Rs 517.5 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2011. The state-owned bank had posted a net profit of Rs 725.1 crore for the corresponding quarter of the last fiscal. The stock shed 3% at Rs 403.

However, the total income of the bank during the period increased by 34.8% at Rs 7,293.6 crore as compared to Rs 5,407.6 crore during the year-ago period.

Shares of leading mobile service providers jumped after top mobile firm Bharti Airtel raised call tariffs in some of its telecom zones, triggering expectations that other firms will follow suit in a market that has one of the world's cheapest call rates. Religare upgraded Bharti and smaller rival Idea Cellular to "buy" from "hold" and raised its outlook for the Indian telecoms sector to "overweight" from "neutral". Both stocks hit a new high today. Bharti Airtel was the biggest contributor to the Sensex's upmove.

Software firm Patni Computers today posted a net profit of Rs 82.03 crore in the quarter ended June 2011, down 46.38% from Rs 153 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago. Shares of Patni touched a new 52-week low of Rs 306 today and is now at Rs 318 - down 4.6%.

Realty stocks were soft on worries that RBI may raise key lending rates once again in its policy review tomorrow. BSE IT and FMCG indices were down in trades.

Meanwhile, rainfall between July 14 and July 20 was 7% above the long-term average, according to the India Meteorological Department. This comes after two successive weeks of below-average rains that raised concerns about crops.

Markets will look at the RBI policy review and the ongoing results season for direction. BHEL, Maruti Suzuki, Great Offshore and Asian Paints to announce quarterly results tomorrow. The next set of numbers would come from Bank of Baroda, IDFC, Lupin and Oil India.