Sensex ends up 28pts

The Sensex has ended (provisional) at 17,441, up 28 points. The Nifty has settled  (provisional) at 5,228, up six points.
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(Updated at 1505hrs)

The markets continue to exhibit strong movement on the back of buying in the metal and the realty stocks. The Sensex is now at 17,844, up 72 points and the Nifty is at 5,237, up 15 points.

Among the Sensex-30 stocks, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors have gained 3% each at Rs 626 and Rs 782, respectively.

The other major gainers are Sterlite Industries, Reliance Communications, ICICI Bank and HDFC, up over 2% each.

DLF, Infosys and Maruti are up 1% each.

The market breadth is positive, out of 2,926 shares traded, 1,544 have advanced and 1,273 have declined so far on the BSE.

The BSE midcap and the smallcap indices are flat, up 0.3% each.

Among the sectoral indices, auto and realty indices continue to lead the gainers list, up 1% each.