Sensex firm; Rel Infra zooms 11%

The Sensex is now up 324 points at 8,998.

The Reserve Bank of India in its quarterly review of the Credit Policy today left all key rates - repo, reverse repo and Cash Reserve Ratio - unchanged.

Sterlite has zoomed over 12% to Rs 269, and Reliance Infrastructure has soared 11% to Rs 539.

Reliance Communications has surged nearly 7% to Rs 171. NTPC, Sun Pharma, Wipro and Reliance have rallied around 6% each to Rs 191, Rs 1,141, Rs 227 and Rs 1,221, respectively.

BHEL, ICICI Bank and Bharti Airtel have moved up around 5% each to Rs 1,388, Rs 382 and Rs 646, respectively.

Tata Power, Maruti and Jaiprakash Associates have advanced 4.3% each to Rs 740, Rs 537 and Rs 64, respectively.

Tata Motors, SBI and Ranbaxy are up over over 4% each at Rs 141, Rs 1,085 and Rs 195, respectively.

ONGC, however, has plunged 4.5% to Rs 617.

Out of 2,432 stocks traded so far, 1,183 have advanced, 1,150 have declined.