Sensex up 78 pts in late morning trade

Erasing some of its earlier gains, the BSE benchmark Sensex was still quoting higher by over 78 points today in late morning trade on persistent buying, mainly in realty, capital goods, IT and PSU stocks amid firm capital inflows.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 220.80 crore yesterday as per the provisional data from the stock exchanges.
The 30-share index resumed higher at 19,254.20 and mmoved up further to a high of 19,271.58. However, it declined afterwards to 19,195.47 before quoting at 19,221.54 at 1030 hrs, still showing a gain of 78.37 points, or 0.41 per cent from its last close.

The NSE 50-share Nifty also moved up by 24.70 points, or 0.43 per cent to 5,808.95 at 1030 hrs.
Major gainers were Wipro (2.16 per cent), Larsen (2.05 per cent), Sterlite Ind (1.58 per cent), Tata Motors (1.35 per cent), ONGC (1.31 per cent), Infosys (1.23 per cent) and Hindalco (1.12 per cent).
However, Gail India dropped by 1.62 per cent and HUL by 1.28 per cent.
Asian stocks edged higher in the early trade after Dow Jones Industrial Average surged to a record as the service sector expanded at the fastest pace in a year in the United States and as investors bet central banks will continue stimulus measures.

Key benchmark indices in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea rose by 0.35 per cent to 1.7 per cent.