Sensex firm; breadth fairly +ve

The Sensex is now up 358 poinst at 15,319.

The NSE Nifty is up 75 points at 4,578.

HDFC Bank has soared nearly 8% to Rs 1,277, and ICICI Bank has rallied nearly 6% to Rs 734.

Maruti has zoomed 6.8% to Rs 656. BHEL and Tata Motors have surged over 4.5% each to Rs 1,851 and Rs 428, respectively.

ACC, Larsen & Toubro and Jaiprakash Associates have moved up 3.3% each to Rs 637, Rs 2,790 and Rs 191, respectively.

Bharti Airtel has gained 3% at Rs 866. HDFC and Mahindra & Mahindra have advanced 2.7% each to Rs 2,532 and Rs 563, respectively.

Sterlite, Reliance, DLF and TCS are up over 2% each at Rs 595, Rs 2,327, Rs 565 and Rs 847, respectively.

Tata Power has dropped 3.3% to Rs 1,065. Tata Steel has slipped 1.5% to Rs 666.

The market breadth is fairly positive - out of 2,406 stocks traded so far, 1,554 have advanced, 757 have declined and 95 are unchanged.