Sensex off day's high; up 353pts

The Sensex is now at 14,637, up 353 points.
________________________________________________________

Updated at 1319 Hrs

The Sensex has gained smartly to a high of 14,904, up 620 points. It is now up 600 points at 14,884.

Reliance Communications and Larsen & toubro have skyrocketed over 16% each to Rs 334 and Rs 1,442, respectively. DLF has zoomed 14.5% to Rs 369.

SBI has soared 13.5% to Rs 1,790. ICICI Bank has surged 12% to Rs 789. Mahindra & Mahindra, Sterlite and Reliance Infrastructure have rallied 10% each to Rs 634, Rs 587 and Rs 1,098, respectively.

Maruti Suzuki, Tata Steel, Grasim, BHEL, ONGC, ACC, Tata Motors, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Hindalco and Tata Power have advanced 2-8% each.

However, IT stocks have declined on the BSE.

Infosys has plunged 10% to Rs 1,589. Wipro has slumped 7% to Rs 396. ITC has dropped 6% at Rs 190. TCS and Hindustan Unilever have slipped 4% each. Reliance, Ranbaxy, Sun Pharma, NTPC and Bharti Airtel have also declined.

The market breadth is fairly positive. Out of 2,580 stocks traded, 1,882 stocks have advanced while 648 have declined.