Sensex ends firm, up 229pts

The Sensex has ended (provisional) at 16,151, up 229 points. The NSE Nifty has ended (provisional) at 4,827, up 70 points.
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(Updated at 1513hrs)

The markets are likely to end on a firm note with both the frontline indices- Sensex and Nifty holding most of the gains.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Hero Honda and Jaiprakash Associates have soared around 4% to Rs 992, Rs 1,682 and Rs 132, respectively.

ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Reliance and Tata Steel are up 3% each.

Tata Power and Bharti Airtel are down 0.5% each.

The market breadth is positive, out of 2,875 shares traded, 1,682 have advanced and 1,090 have declined so far on the BSE.

Among the sectoral indices, auto, realty and oil & gas indices have advanced 2%