The Sensex is now up 186 points at 16,108. The NSE Nifty has added 59 points at 4,816.
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(Updated at 0957 hrs)
The markets have extended their morning gains on the back of gains in Asian markets and a short-covering rally in realty, banking and IT stocks. The Sensex has regained the 16k mark and is going strong at 16047, higher by 125 points, and the Nifty at 4798, up 40 points. The mid-cap and small-cap indices have also added more than 1% apiece.
The Asian indices are trading strong on hopes of a bail-out for Greece. Hang Seng and Taiwan are up more than 1% each.
The leading gainers on the Sensex are ICICI Bank (strengthened by Rs 22 or 2.8% at Rs 823), Jaiprakash Associates (firmed up by Rs 3 or 2.7% at Rs 131) and DLF (hardened by Rs 7 or 2.5% at Rs 309). Hindalco, HDFC Bank and M&M are the other significant gainers.
And index heavyweight Reliance has added Rs 10 or 1% at Rs 994.
On the other hand, Bharti Airtel is trading soft with a negative bias at Rs 315.
The market breadth is strong. Out of 2144 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 1614 advancing stocks as against 479 declines.