Nifty crosses 5400...Sensex climbs 100 pts

The key Indian stock indices have suddenly sprung back to life after swinging between gains and losses for most part of the session today. The BSE Sensex is up more than 100 points and is trading above 17,800. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty has crossed the 5400 mark for the first time since early August 2011.

At 03:11 pm ( IST), the BSE Sensex was 17,823, up 115 points over the previous close. It had earlier touched a day’s high of 17,826 and a day’s low of 17,609. It opened at 17,647.

NSE Nifty was quoting 5,408, up 40 points over the previous close. It has earlier touched a day’s high of 5,410 and a day’s low of 5,338. It opened at 5,343.

Reliance Power, STER, SAIL, Jindal Steel, BPCL, Bajaj Auto, Kotak Bank, Tata Power, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, Cairn, Reliance Comm, Wipro and Siemens are among the leading gainers.

While, Bharti Airtel, Hindalco, ONGC, DLF, Sun Pharma, Grasim, L&T, HCL Tech, Reliance, IDFC, GAIL, Ranbaxy, ITC, Hero Motocorp, Cipla and HDFC are among the laggards on the BSE and NSE.

Realty and Metals indices have rallied by more than 2%. Banking and Auto indices too are up almost 2%. Consumer Durables, Power and IT indices have gained more than 1%. The Oil & Gas index is the top loser.

The BSE Small-Cap index and the BSE Mid-Cap index are up well over 1% each.