Sensex surges 174 pts, Nifty reclaims 8,600-mark

The S&P BSE Sensex surged by nearly 174 points, while the broader CNX Nifty reclaimed the 8,600-mark after over six weeks in late morning trade today on across-the-board buying by participants amid positive Asian cues.
Firm buying was witnessed in metal, realty, banking, power, oil & gas and IT sector stocks apart from MidCap and SmallCap shares.
Investor sentiments remained upbeat with the Apex bank's surprise rate cut last week coupled with encouraging Q3 earnings amid persistent FII inflows.
The Sensex resumed higher at 28,324.85 and rallied to a high of 28,435.92, a rise of 173.91 points, or 0.61 per cent, from its previous close.

The CNX 50-share Nifty also gained by 53.40 points, or 0.62 per cent, to reclaim 8,600-mark.
Major gainers were Hindalco (2.64 pct), Tata Steel (2.42 pct), Axis Bank (2.00 pct), SSLT (1.89 pct), SBIN (1.71 pct), HDFC (1.22 pct) and ITC (0.99 pct).
Asian markets were trading higher after China said that its economy had not slowed down as much as widely perceived.
Key benchmark indices in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan were up by 0.61 pct to 1.81 pct, while Indonesia's Jakarta Composite was trading down at 0.52 pct.