Markets soar, Sensex up 300pts

The markets continued to rake in gains in late morning trades as investors flocked to the realty and IT stocks. The BSE Sensex is at 16,753, up 251 points and the S&P CNX Nifty is at 5,024, up 77 points. Earlier in the day, the BSE benchark index had touched a low of 16,618.

The Asian markets are trading on a mixed note with the Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng indices down 1-4% each, while the Nikkei is up 0.9%.

Among the sectoral indices, BSE Realty, IT and Metal indices have gained 2% each. TCS, Patni Computer Systems, HCL Technologies, Financial Technologies and Tech Mahindra are the major gainers from the IT pack, up 2-3% each.

JSW Steel, Sterlite Industries, Sesa Goa, Bhushan Steel and Hindalco Industries, up 3% each, are the majors from the metals stocks.

On the Sensex, JP Associates has moved up 4% at Rs 67 and is closely followed by TCS, Sterlite Industies, DLF and Hindalco Industries. The only losers on the Sensex include Hindustan Unilever, ONGC and Hero MotoCorp, down nearly a percent each.

Among individual stocks, Maruti Suzuki is trading 1.9% higher on reports that the company would start hiring regular workers from tomorrow to replace those who had refused to sign the good conduct bond.

SpiceJet has surged nearly 9% to Rs 26 on early deals today on reports that its promoter, Kalanithi Maran, is planning to increase his stake to 43% by October.

The overall market breadth is positive as 1,669 stocks have advanced against 633 declining ones, on the BSE.