Sensex soars 271pts; SBI zooms 7%

The Sensex is now up 271 points at 13,902.

SBI has soared 6.5% to Rs 1,224. ICICI Bank has surged 4.8% to Rs 937, and HDFC Bank has added 3% to Rs 1,030.

HDFC has advanced 2.8% to Rs 1,565. TCS has gained 2.5% at Rs 1,310, and Satyam has spurted over 2% to Rs 491.

Hindalco, Hero Honda and Bharti Airtel have moved up around 2% each to Rs 172, Rs 746 and Rs 648, respectively.

Infosys, Cipla, Dr.Reddy's, BHEL, Gujarat Ambuja, Maruti and Larsen & Toubro are the other major gainers.

The market breadth is extremely positive - out of 2,358 stocks traded so far, 1,727 have advanced, 584 have declined and 47 are unchanged.