Sensex up 196pts; Rel Comm gains 3%

The Sensex is now up 196 points at 12,400.

HDFC Bank has soared over 4% to Rs 930. Reliance Communications has surged 2.7% to Rs 349, and Larsen & Toubro has added 2.3% to Rs 1,263.

Grasim, Infosys, Cipla, Tata Steel and SBI have rallied 2% each to Rs 2,545, Rs 1,841, Rs 258, Rs 534 and Rs 1,034, respectively.

ICICI Bank, TCS, Satyam, HDFC, Maruti, Tata Motors, ONGC and Bajaj Auto are the other significant gainers.

The market breadth is extremely positive - out of 2,344 stocks traded so far, 1,833 have advanced, 458 have declined and 53 are unchanged.