Sensex gains 85 points ahead of key macro numbers

The BSE Sensex rose by 85 points in morning trade on buying in oil & gas, IT, healthcare, consumer durables and metal stocks ahead of industrial output data and consumer inflation numbers to be released later in the day.
The 30-share index opened sharply higher at 25,597.21 points, but bouts of selling led to a low of 25,409.69 points in early trdae.
The barometer was trading up by 85.57 points, or 0.34 per cent, at 25,559.46 points at 1100 hrs.
Meanwhile, the NSE 50-share Nifty was also up by 9.60 points, or 0.13 per cent, at 7,636.45.
ONGC rose by 2.10 per cent, HDFC by 1.84 per cent, Cipla by 1.28 per cent and Tata Power by 1.26 per cent.

Hindalco was trading up 1.17 per cent, SunPharma by 1.14 per cent and HDFC Bank by 0.88 per cent.
Foreign institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 313.40 crore yesterday, as per provisional data from stock exchanges.
Most Asian stocks were trading lower reacting to fall in the US market from record levels. Key benchmark indices in China, Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong were fell 0.16 per cent to 0.77 per cent. Singapore's Straits Times rose 0.07 per cent.