Sensex pares gains, up 160pts

The Sensex has pared gains and is now up 162 points at 9,584.  The index had earlier touched a high of 9,699.

HDFC Bank has zoomed 7.7% to Rs 953, and ICICI Bank has soared 4.4% to Rs 362.

DLF and Mahindra & Mahindra have surged over 3.5% each to Rs 382 and Rs 612, respectively.

Bharti Airtel, BHEL and Wipro have rallied around 3% each to Rs 612, Rs 1,456 and Rs 246, respectively.

HDFC and SBI have moved up 2.5% each to Rs 1,568 and Rs 1,048, respectively.

Reliance Infrastructure has slumped 3.5% to Rs 512, and Reliance Communications has dropped 3% to Rs 163.

 

Jaiprakash Associates, ACC and Maruti have slipped around 1.5% each to Rs 83, Rs 549 and Rs 724, respectively.

The market breadth is marginally positive - out of 2,512 stocks traded so far, 1,270 have advanced, 1,143 have declined and the rest are unchanged.