Sensex snaps five-day losing streak, rallies 198 pts

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex snapped its five-day losing streak by recovering 198 points in morning trade on fresh buying mainly in capital goods, realty, banking, refinery and consumer durable sectors after retail inflation declined to a 30-month low of 7.31 per cent.
The Sensex opened higher at 25,100.90 and shot up further to 25,235.84 before quoting at 25,205.28 at 1000 hours, showing a gain of 198.30 points, or 0.79 per cent, from its last close.
The NSE 50-share Nifty also firmed up by 64.60 points, or 0.87 per cent, to 7,518.75 at 1000 hours.
Major gainers were ICICI Bank 2.72 pct, Larsen 2.34 pct, BHEL 2.30 pct, ONGC 1.93 pct, SBI 1.69 pct, Axis Bank 1.67 pct, RIL 1.58 pct, CIL 1.54 pct and Tata Steel 1.51 pct.

Asian stocks firmed up in their early trade helped by Citigroup's better-than-expected earnings and more deals in the healthcare sector. Key benchmark indices in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, China and Singapore rose by 0.03 pct to 0.86 pct.
US stocks ended higher yesterday with Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting an intra-day record, helped by Citigroup's better-than-expected earnings and more deals in the healthcare sector.