Sensex regains 20K, up 136pts

The markets have strengthened in the last few minutes of the trade. The Sensex has now re-gained the 20,000-mark and is up 136 points. The NSE Nifty has added 35 points to 5384.
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(Updated at 1330 hrs)

The markets continued the upmove on back of buying witnessed in the auto, IT, Consumer Durables and Metal stocks. Partial recovery by the Asian markets also helped Indian markets to bounce back.

The Sensex was up 50 points at 19,916 and Nifty was higher by 14 points at 5964.

Hero Honda continued to remain the top gainer among the Sensex stocks, the stock was higher by 13% at Rs 1902, Mahindra & Mahindra, Cipla, TCS, Tata Steel and Infosys were also traded higher by 1.2% each. On the other hand Bharti Airtel, ONGC, NTPC and State Bank of India reeled under the selling pressure and traded in the red, down more than 1.3% each.

BSE Auto index led the sectoral pack the index was up 1.58% or 156 points at 10,047, IT index was up 71 points at 6648. BSE Consumer Durables, Metal, Teck and Oil & Gas indices also traded higher by more than 0.2% each. The BSE banking index- bankex was the top loser down 81 points at 12,877 followed by healthcare, PSU and power indices down more than 0.5% each.

Hero Honda, Amtek Auto, Mahindra & Mahindra and Bajaj Auto were amonhg the top gainers on the auto index. Among the banking stocks Union Bank was the top loser down 2.16% at Rs 322 followed by Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Indusind Bank and SBI down more than 1.3% each.

The broader markets continued to trade on a firm note with BSE mid-cap index adding 21 points at 7589 and small-cap index adding 73 points at 9257.