Sensex flares up 70 pts

Buoyed by strong gains in old and new eoconomy stocks the market continues to exhibit firm trend.

The Sensex has surged 70 points to 6,593, and the Nifty has jumped 19 points to 2,079.

The market breadth remains firm with 1,604 advances and 628 declines.

Reliance has jumped 1.84% (Rs 10) to Rs 533. The counter has clocked a volume of over 9.96 lakh on the BSE so far. While ITC has moved up a per cent (Rs 14) to Rs 1,309, HLL is trading marginally lower at Rs 144.

Infosys, with a volume of over 1.44 lakh, has advanced 1.94% (Rs 40) to Rs 2,089. While Satyam is steady at Rs 410 (up Rs 6), Wipro is up a per cent (Rs 4) at Rs 750.

SBI, with a volume of over 7.4 lakh, has jumped 1.66% (Rs 10) to Rs 644, and ICICI Bank has gained 2% (Rs 7) to Rs 371. HDFC Bank (down Rs 2 to Rs 519) continues to traded on a subdued note.

Ranbaxy has logged 1.49% gains (Rs 18) to Rs 1,250. Dr. Reddy's at Rs 864 (up Rs 15 or 1.71%) and Cipla at Rs 317 (up Rs 6 or 1.91%) are trading with decent gains.

While HDFC has added 1.57% (Rs 12) to Rs 768, Bharti, on volumes of over 1.49 lakh, has inched up by 1.66% (Rs 4) to Rs 215.

BHEL has moved up 1.34% (Rs 10) to Rs 757, and Tata Power has added 1.75% (Rs 7) to Rs 387. Reliance Energy is up a small gain of Rs 2 at Rs 526.

Banking stocks have soared on fresh buying. Uco Bank has zoomed 11% (Rs 4) to Rs 37, and BoB has notched up 5.16% gains (Rs 12) to Rs 238. While Andhra Bank has added 4.56% to Rs 88, Indian Overseas Bank and Canara Bank have gained nearly 4% each to Rs 78 and Rs 207, respectively. OBC, BoI and Union Bank are also trading at higher levels.

Balaji Telefilms continues to trade with sharp gains and has gained 9.58% (Rs 10) to Rs 119, after the company yesterday announced 800% dividend. While Titan has surged 4.74% to Rs 187, Hind Zinc has added 4.38% to Rs 156. Escorts is up 3.93% at Rs 74.

Reliance is leading the value chart with a turnover of Rs 53 crore, followed by Tisco (Rs 52 crore), SBI (Rs 45 crore), Infosys (Rs 30 crore) and Satyam (Rs 19 crore), respectively.