Sensex up 158pts; breadth -ve

The Sensex is now up 158  points at 15,516.

The NSE Nifty is up 42 points at 4,666.

Jaiprakash (JP) Associates and Satyam have surged around 4.5% each to Rs 229 and Rs 380, respectively.

DLF has surged 3.7% to Rs 629, and ICICI Bank has rallied 3.3% to Rs 865.

Hindalco has moved up nearly 3% to Rs 179. Infosys and NTPC have advanced over 2% each to Rs 1,363 and Rs 191, respectively.

Larsen & Toubro, Tata Motors and Reliance have gained nearly 2% each to Rs 2,859, Rs 632 and Rs 2,282, respectively.

Bharti Airtel has plunged 4% to Rs 747. Maruti has slipped over 3% to Rs 813, and Mahindra & Mahindra has shed 2.7% at Rs 643.

HDFC has dropped nearly 2% to Rs 2,455, and Ambuja Cements is down 1.5% at Rs 119.

The market breadth is negative - out of 2,456 stocks traded so far, 1,454 have declined, 941 have advanced and 61 are unchanged.