Sensex ends up 500pts

The Sensex ends (provisional) at 17,789 - up 500 points. Nifty ends up 152 points at 5,353.
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(Updated at 1433 hrs)

Markets continued to move sideways as buying in select sectors kept investors in high spirits. The Sensex, after touching a high of 17,908 moved near that level for most part of the day. The index is now up 433 popints at 17,722. Nifty is up 2.8% at 5,348.

European markets, opened on a soft note today. However, they gained strength soon after. CAC and DAX surged 1% each to 3,392 and 6,405, respectively.  On Wednesday evening, European leaders convinced bondholders into accepting 50 per cent writedowns on Greek debt. Asian stocks ended their best week in nearly three years. The Nikkei was up 1.3% at 9,050. Hang Seng gained 1.6% to 20,019.

US stocks soared on Thursday as an agreement by European leaders to help contain the region's two-year debt crisis lifted a cloud hovering over markets. On top of that, first-time jobless claims decreased by 2,000 to 402,000 in the week ended October 22, Labor Department figures showed on Thursday in Washington.

All the sectoral indices, barring consumer durables, gained in trades. BSE metal index jumped 6.7% to 12,187 after the Union Cabinet approved a national manufacturing policy to increase manufacturing's share of national output. This is likely to create millions of jobs and add capacity to sustain brisk economic growth through the next decade.

Sterlite soared 11% to Rs 135. Hindalco saw a 10% upmove in morning itself and has held on to gains. The stock is at Rs 141. Steel stocks - JSW Steel, Jindal Steel, Tata Steel and SAIL rose 5-9% each.

Banking shares rose smartly, recovering from its slide folloing the RBI policy on Monday. The bankex is up 3.5% at 11,357. The RBI, in a bid to control inflation, has raised key rates by another 25 basis points.

IDBI Bank and ICICI Bank from the banking space have soared 6% to Rs 114 and Rs 925, respectively. Union Bank, Axis Bank, Federal Bank and Canara Bank are also in green.

The realty and auto indices also moved up with 3-4% gains. Market heavyweight, Reliance, added 2.3% to Rs 894.

Meanwhile, Maruti Suzuki has slipped 2.3% to Rs 1,123. Bajaj Auto was flat at Rs 1,764.