Sensex up 41 points on sustained buying

The BSE Sensex struggled to maintain its initial lead due to intense volatility and the benchmark was trading higher by 41 points amid firm buying in realty, power, consumer durables, capital goods, banking and auto stocks.
Meanwhile, oil & gas, tech, IT and FMCG sectors witnessed some profit-booking.
The 30-share index opened higher at 25,677.05 and rallied to an high of 25,688.31 and a low of 25,570.04 before quoting at 25,618.21 points at 1010 hours.
It was up 41 points, or 0.16 per cent, over its previous close.
The NSE 50-share Nifty was also trading higher by 5.30 points, or 0.07 per cent, at 7,655.20 at 1010 hours.

BHEL rose 2.85 per cent, M&M (2.02 per cent), Coal India (1.93 per cent), HDFC Bank (1.56 per cent) and Tata Power (1.03 per cent).

The losers included TCS (down 1.57 per cent), Hindalco (1.10 per cent) and Bharti Airtel (0.72 per cent).
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 652.35 crore yesterday, as per provisional data from stock exchanges.
Most Asian stocks were trading lower on escalating tensions over civil war in Iraq.
Key benchmark indices in Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore were down 0.04-1.28 per cent while indices in China and Hong Kong were up 0.65-0.9 per cent.