Sensex ends up 81pts

The Sensex finally ended (provisional) with a gain of 81 points at 17,959. The NSE Nifty moved up 27 points to 5,395.
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(Updated at 1440 hrs)

The benchmark indices seem to be attempting yet another shot at the highs of the day and important psychological levels that have been beckoning since the previous trading session. The Nifty did hit an intra-day low of 5883 in the course of the past one hour, but this was immediately brought into and the index has infact reclaimed the 5400 mark. The Sensex is just shy of the 18k mark at 17994, higher by 111 points, and the Nifty is at 5402, up 34 points.

And the global markets are doing their bit as well. The London, French and German markets continue to trade higher by 1-2% each. And  on the Asian front, Hang Seng and Seoul added upto a percent each on closing bell.

Back home, Tata Steel has zoomed by 3.4% at Rs 527, Sterlite has gained 3.4% at Rs 172 and Ambuja Cement has firmed up by 3.1% at Rs 111. Jindal Steel, M&M and Gail are the other significant gainers on the BSE.

The banking sector continues to trade soft, albeit off the day's lows.  Axis Bank has shed 2% at Rs 1341, HDFC has lost 1.2% at Rs 2977 and Kotak Bank has weakened by 1% at Rs 774.