Sensex up 18 points on firm Asian cues

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex was up by 18 points in morning trade on fresh buying in banking, consumer durables, auto and metal sector stocks on the back of firm Asian cues.
The Sensex resumed higher at 22,486.73 and moved up further to 22,533.61 on good buying. However, it declined afterwards to 22,458.52 before quoting at 22,503.42 at 1010 hrs, still showing a modest gain of 18.49 points, or 0.08 per cent, from its last close.
The NSE 50-share Nifty also moved up by 6.45 points, or 0.10 per cent, to 6,739.55 at 1010 hrs.
Major gainers were Hindalco Ind (1.97 per cent), Bharti Airtel (1.40 per cent), SSLT (1.16 per cent), SBI (1.15 per cent), Tata Steel (1.15 per cent), Tata Motors (1.14 per cent), ICICI Bank (1.06 per cent) and ITC (1.04 per cent).

Meanwhile, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 21.63 crore yesterday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
Asian stocks gained in early trade, as China reported data on economic growth for the January-March period which was better than estimated. Key benchmark indices in South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan were up between 0.01-2.26 per cent.