Sensex near day's high, up 455pts

The Sensex is now near the day's high of 13,863. The index is now up 455 points at 13,856.

The BSE realty index continues to gain and is now up nearly 9% at 2,978.

DLF has soared 10.5% to Rs 298. Reliance Infrastructure and HDFC have surged 8% each to Rs 1,044 and Rs 2,373, respectively.

ICICI Bank, Jaiprakash Associates, Tata Steel, BHEL, Grasim and Reliance Communications have gained 4-6% each.

Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Sterlite, ACC, Larsen & Toubro, Reliance, TCS, NTPC and Maruti Suzuki are the other major gainers.

However, HDFC Bank has slipped 1.8% to Rs 1,350 after announcing its Q1 results.

The market breadth is positive. Out of 2,591 stocks traded 1,894 have advanced while 616 have declined.