Sensex ends up 145 pts

The Sensex ends (provisional) at 16488 - up 145 points. Nifty ends up 47 points at 4,946.
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(Updated at 1434 hrs)

The markets are going great guns in noon trades, galvanised by the positive set of cues from the global market front. The Sensex has surged around 300 points from the day's lows and is currently quoting at 16509, up 168 points and the Nifty is at 4954, up 55 points. The midcap index is at 6269, higher by 69 points and the smallcap index is at 7198, up 85 points.

On the global front, the Asian markets had a good session of trade, with Seoul and Taiwan gaining more than 3%, while Hang Seng, Nikkei and Straits Times have added in the region of a percent each. And across Europe, the CAX and CAC have gained about 2% each, while FTSE is up about 1%.

The IT index is in the driver's seat on reports that India's main software trade body reiterated its estimate of the industry growth in export revenue this fiscal year despite fears of economic troubles in the main outsourcing markets; TCS has soared by 6.4% at Rs 977 to emerge as the leading gainer among the Sensex stocks and Infosys has surged by 4.3% at Rs 2290. Among other index heavyweights, Bajaj Auto has raced ahead by 5.1% at Rs 1558 and BHEL has gained 2.6% at Rs 1760.

On the other hand, Cipla has weakened by 2.2% at Rs 283, ONGC has shed 2% at Rs 280 and NTPC has lost 1.5% at Rs 172.

The overall breadth is positive as 1,756 stocks have advanced as against 879 declines.