The markets continue to exhibit firm trend. The Sensex is now up 82 points at 16,683. The Nifty is up 28 points at 4,981.
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(Updated at 1259 hrs)
Strong cues from Asan markets helped the Sensex to open strong this morning. Further boost came as Sensex heavy-weight, Reliance Industries, announced their third successful gas discovery in the KG gas basin.
The Sensex surged to a high of 16,728 on the gas discovery news and is now slightly off the day's high at 16,701 - up 100 points.
The Nifty is up 32 points at 4,985.
The BSE small caps are performing better than the broader market. The index has gained 1% to 7,957.
The metal index has jumped 2% to 16,289. The consumer durables, realty, bankex and PSU indices have also moved up around 1% each. However, IT stocks remain weak.
Metal stocks are leaing the gainers list in the Sensex. Tata Steel has jumped 3% to Rs 572. Hindalco has gained 2.8% at Rs 141. Sterlite has added 1%.
Bharti Airtel has moved up 2.8% to Rs 319. Reliance Communications has advanced 1.5% to Rs 171.
ICICI Bank, NTPC, ITC, Reliance Infrastructure, DLF and SBI have also added 1% each.
However, ONGC has dropped 1.2% in trades to Rs 1,162. Grasim and TCS have slipped 1% each to Rs 2,372 and Rs 727, respectively.
