Sensex soars 98 pts, ICICI Bank zooms 9%

The market continues with its north-bound trend in mid-noon trades as relentless buying support in most of the old economy stocks has propeled the Sensex to a high of 7,526.

The Sensex is now up 98 points at 7,521, while the Nifty has flared up 25 points to 2,291.

ICICI Bank has zoomed 9.29% (Rs 42) to Rs 497. While SBI has flared up 2.56% (Rs 18) to Rs 739, HDFC Bank is up 5.77% (Rs 37) at Rs 686.

ONGC is up 2.33% (Rs 22) at Rs 957. ITC has clocked a per cent gain (Rs 15) to Rs 1,659.

Bharti has rolled back into the green to Rs 270 - up Rs 3 or 1.24%. While Hindalco has gained 1.70% (Rs 22) to Rs 1,288, HDFC has added 1.42% (Rs 13) to Rs 912. L&T, however, has shed 1.29% (Rs 16) to Rs 1,240.

Tech stocks are down in a range of 1-2%.

Hero Honda is still languishing in negative territory at Rs 609 - down Rs 7 or 1.14%. Maruti is trading with a steady gain of 1.51% (Rs 7) at Rs 469.