Sensex crosses 9600 in early trades

The Sensex opened marginally lower at 9523. However, fresh buying in the market saw the index surge past the 9600-mark to touch an intra-day peak of 9623.

The index is now up 41 points at 9580.

ITC is leading the upmove with a gain of 3% at Rs 147.

Tata Motors has rallied 2.4% to Rs 661.

Satyam, NTPC, Dr.Reddy's, Gujarat Ambuja, SBI, Cipla, Wipro, BHEL, Reliance, Larsen & Toubro and Bajaj Auto have gained 1-2% each.

Maruti and ONGC are the only notable losers among the index stocks.