Sensex rallies 200 points; HDFC Bank, Infosys, ITC lead gains

However, Sensex pared some of the morning gains and was trading 186 points or 1.01 per cent at 18,705.24. It touched a high of 18,728.19 and a low of 18,602.56 in trade today.

NEW DELHI: The S&P BSE Sensex rallied over 200 points in morning trade on Monday, led by strong buying in frontline stocks such as HDFC Bank, Infosys and ITC.

Tracking the strong momentum, the 50-share Nifty index rallied over 50 points to recapture its key psychological level of 5500.

At 09:50 a.m.; the 50-share index was at 5,523.20, up 51 points or 0.94 per cent. It touched a high of 5,528.40 and a low of 5,496.20 in early trade today.

However, Sensex pared some of the morning gains and was trading 186 points or 1.01 per cent at 18,705.24. It touched a high of 18,728.19 and a low of 18,602.56 in trade today.

The S&P BSE Midcap Index was up 0.88 per cent and BSE S&P Smallcap Index edged higher by 0.80 per cent.

Among the sectoral indices, the S&P Capital Goods Index was up 2.06 per cent, followed by the S&P BSE Metal index which rose by 1.58 per cent, the S&P BSE Power index gained 1.89 per cent and the S&P BSE Realty index was trading 1.5 per cent higher.

L&T (2.3 per cent), Sterlite Industries (3.4 per cent), Coal India (2.7 per cent), NTPC (2.7 per cent) and Wipro (2.6 per cent) were among the major Sensex gainers.

Tata Motors (1.2 per cent), Tata Steel (0.9 per cent) and ICICI Bank (0.76 per cent) were among the index losers.

Asian stocks were trading higher after a steep drop in U.S. new home sales tempered expectations the Federal Reserve will soon reduce stimulus.

U.S. crude was also bid at $107.05 a barrel.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index was trading 0.21 per cent higher at 13,692.17 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was trading 0.8 per cent higher at 22,033.12.

South Korea's Kospi index was trading 0.7 per cent higher at 1,884. China's Shanghai index was trading 0.30 per cent higher at 2063.68.

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VIJAY