Sensex soars 230pts; breadth very firm

The Sensex is now up 230 points at 13,850.

Satyam has soared 5.5% to Rs 472. HDFC has surged 3.3% to Rs 1,617. Reliance Communications has rallied nearly 3% to Rs 447.

Tata Steel has advanced over 2.5% to Rs 518. BHEL, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, ITC and ONGC have gained around 2% each at Rs 2,561, Rs 729, Rs 1,003, Rs 162 and Rs 912, respectively.

Gujarat Ambuja, Infosys, SBI, Bharti Airtel, Wipro, Reliance Energy, Bajaj Auto, TCS, Larsen & Toubro, Reliance and Maruti are the other major gainers.

The market breadth is very firm - out of 2,197 stocks traded so far, 1,572 have advanced, 570 have declined and 55 are unchanged.