Sensex strong; ACC down 3%

The Sensex is firm owing to buying in the banking stocks. The index is now at 17,686, up 112 points. The NSE Nifty is 30 points higher at 5,299.

Among the Sensex-30 stocks,ICICI Bank and Larsen & Toubro have added 3% each to Rs 972 and Rs 1,616, respectively.

SBI, DLF and Reliance Industries have added 1.5% each to Rs 2,260, Rs 330 and Rs 1,089, respectively.

While ACC has slipped 2.5% to Rs 897. It was followed by Sterlite, Sun Pharma and Bharti Airtel are down 1.5% each.

The market breadth is negative, out of 2,952 shares traded, 1,438 have declined and 1,415 have advanced so far on the BSE.

The midcap and the smallcap indices are flat now.

Among the sectoral indices, bankex has added 1.5% at 11,063 while the metal index has slipped 1% to 17,605, respectively.