Sensex up 73 pts; RIL, SBI firm

Further buying in heavyweights, select banking and other old economy stocks has propelled the gains of the index. The Sensex has moved up 73 points to 6,596. The Nifty is up 19 points at 2,079.

Reliance has advanced nearly 2% (Rs 10) to Rs 534, while ITC has jumped 1.19% (Rs 15) to Rs 1,311. HLL, however, is down a rupee at Rs 143.

Infosys at Rs 2,082 (up Rs 33 or 1.60%) is holding on to its gains. Wipro and Satyam are trading with steady gains at Rs 748 and Rs 407, respectively.

SBI has scaled up 2% (Rs 13) to Rs 647, and ICICI Bank has logged 2% gains (Rs 7) to Rs 371.

Ranbaxy has gained 1.44% (Rs 18) to Rs 1,249. Dr. Reddy's and Cipla are up nearly 2% each at Rs 865 and Rs 316, respectively.

BHEL has added 1.73% (Rs 13) to Rs 760. While Tata Power has moved up 1.87% (Rs 7) to Rs 387, Reliance Energy is up Rs 2 at Rs 527.

HDFC has gained 1.38% (Rs 10) to Rs 767. Bharti is unchanged at Rs 215 - up Rs 3 or 1.63%. Hindalco, however, has shed 1.38% (Rs 20) to Rs 1,426.

Metal stocks have attracted buying support. Kirloskar Ferrous has shot up 11.83% (Rs 4) to Rs 35. While Mukand Iron & Steel has advanced 4.21% to Rs 52, Hind Zinc has gained 3.58% to Rs 155. Essar Steel and PSL are up 3% each at Rs 40 and Rs 156, respectively.

Balaji Telefilms has scaled up 12.15% (Rs 13) to Rs 122, and MRPL has surged 5.59% to Rs 53. Hinduja TMT at Rs 310 (up Rs 14 or 4.68%) and HMT at Rs 47 (up Rs 2 or 4.285) have also gained ground on buying support.

Ispat has topped the volume table with over 32.77 lakh shares changed hands on the BSE so far, followed by Sail (27.94 lakh), Tisco (19.1 lakh), Reliance (12.86 lakh) and Orchid Chemicals (10.69 lakh), respectively.