Sensex up 224pts; Rel Comm soars 5%

The Sensex is now up 224 points at 17,716.

Reliance Communications have zoomed 5% to Rs 673. Reliance Energy has soared 4.5% to Rs 1,441.

ACC has surged nearly 3% to Rs 1,147. Bharti Airtel, Grasim and NTPC have rallied around 2.5% each to Rs 1,010, Rs 3,510 and Rs 210, respectively.

Maruti, Tata Steel, Larsen & Toubro and Reliance are up over 2% each to Rs 1,049, Rs 808, Rs 3,087 and Rs 2,468, respectively.

Cipla has shed 1.7% at Rs 185.

The market breadth is negative - out of 2,589 stocks traded so far, 1,360 have declined, 1,162 have advanced and 67 are unchanged.