Sensex rallies 170pts

The markets have extended gains in mid-morning trades. The Sensex has now gained 171 points at 19,434, and the NSE Nifty has added 50 points to 5,835.
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(Updated at 1004 hrs)

The markets have rebounded into the positive territory on the back of fresh buying in select auto and capital goods stocks. The Sensex which tumbled to a low of 19,102, has recovered almost 250 points and touched a high of 19,363. The index is now up 101 points at 19,363.

The NSE Nifty has gained 26 points at 5,812.

The BSE Capital Goods index has moved up over 1% to 13,742. The Auto index and Bankex too are up smartly.

HDFC is the major mover among the Sensex stocks - up 1.7% at Rs 702. Hero Honda, Hindustan Unilever and Larsen & Toubro are the other major gainers. Jaiprakash Associates, TCS, Tata Motors and Wipro have also moved up smartly.

ONGC, however, has slipped 1% to Rs 280. Sterlite, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications are trading in the negative zone.

In the broader markets, HPCL has surged 3.5% to Rs 357. Tata Chemicals, Indusind Bank, Educomp Solutions, GMR Infra, Ashok Leyland, Apollo Tyres and Jet Airways are the other majors.
Marico, Hindustan Zinc, Unitech, Engineers India and IRB Infrastructure are the prominent losers.

The market breadth is fairly positive - out of 2,053 stocks traded so far, 1,207 have advanced, and 777 have declined on the BSE.