Sensex ends up 430 pts

Sensex ended (provisional) at 18,781 - up 430 points. Nifty ends (provisional) up 124 points at 5,646.
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(Updated at 1440 hrs)

Markets surged smartly in late-noon trades on the back of buying in IT stocks. Investors were optimistic as the government tabled some key reform bills in parliament this week.

Wall Street had another good session overnight, the sentiment rubbed on to the Asian Street and India dutifully latched on to the optimistic mood. Asian markets jumped in trades with Nikkei gaining after two days. The Japanese market moved up 1% to 9,536. Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite were up 1% each.

The Sensex after trading firm in the morning, shot up as IT stocks gained. The BSE benchmark touched a high of 18,753 and was up 389 points at 18,740. The Nifty was up 104 points at 5,626, crossing the 5,600 mark after 14 trading days.

"The coming three-four months may turn out to be the best period for equity Investments since stock prices of many well managed companies have dropped sharply.," said Tejas Doshi, Vice President – Research, Sushil Financial Services.

Broader markets were trading firm but could not manage to outperform the benchmark. The indices gained 1% each to 6,723 and 8,001, respectively.

BSE IT index surged on a better-than-expected US tech earnings. The index rallied 3.5% to 6,316.

"Shorts are getting covered in the IT space and currently long positions are getting build," said Shailesh Kadam, Associate Vice President-Institutional Derivatives at PINC Research.

Financial Technologies soared 8% to Rs 835. Infosys gained 4.3% on reports that it may outperform TCS this year. Wipro and Oracle Financial Services were up 3.2% each. TCS jumped 2.7% to Rs 1,123 on signing contract with Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank.

BSE realty index gained 2.7%, while bankex was up 2% at 12,853. Banking stocks continued to gain from the givernment's decion to move the banking amendment bill in parliament earlier this week.

Among Sensex stocks, DLF surged 6% to Rs 249. Heavyweight - ICICI Bank gained 3.2% at Rs 1,086, followed by HDFC Bank, NTPC, Larsen & Toubro and Reliance Infrastructure.

Reliance Communications added 2.6% at Rs 108. HDFC, ITC and ONGC were up in trades. Tata Power, Bajaj Auto and Jindal Steel also gained. BHEL moved up 1.3% to Rs 2,079 after winning a $1.1 billion order from Power Grid, with ABB.

Fertiliser shares edged higher on reports demand for fertilizer may climb 4% this monsoon season.