Sensex snaps losing trend, rises 188 pts; HDFC, Iny, TCS gain

Snapping a five-day losing trend, the BSE benchmark Sensex today recovered by 188 points led by buying in blue-chips such as HDFC, Infosys and TCS, amid a firming global trend.
The Sensex rose 187.97 points, or 1.03 per cent, to close at 18,414.45. The index had lost 815 points in the last five session to trade at seven-month low.
In a volatile trade, the gauge had touched the day's low of 18,173.31 and a high of 19,461.44.
Similarly, the broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty spurted by 63.60 points, or 1.16 per cent, to 5,558.70, after dipping to 5,477.20.
Brokers said investors felt the recent falls in share prices an overdone and picked up fundamentally strong stocks available at existing lower levels.

They said the market received further support on firming trend in Asian and European markets as Chinese imports beat forecasts and investors awaited the minutes of last month's Federal Reserve meeting.

In 30-BSE index components, 21 stocks gained led by Infosys, Reliance Industries, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, HDFC Ltd, Larsen and Toubro, Bajaj Auto, Bharti Airtel and Cipla.
IT stocks spurted before the Infosys quarterly results on April 12, lifting the sector index by 2.05 per cent to 6,658.20.
The Tech index gained the most by 2.10 per cent to 3,791.91, while banking index stood third by 1.73 per cent to 12,756.15.