Sensex Up 233 Pts; Banks Lead

MUMBAI - The market opened on a positive note Tuesday tracking a bounce in global indices. Banks and oil shares led the advances. At 10:05 am, the Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex was up 233 points or 1.4 per cent at 16,864.33. The National Stock Exchange's Nifty was up 53 points or 1.3 per cent at 4920.1

Biggest Nifty gainers in early trade comprised ICICI Bank (up 3.5%), SAIL (3.33%), Satyam Computer (3.31%), Sterlite (3.14%), Punjab National Bank (2.93%) and VNSL (2.73%). Glaxo (down 1.2%), Ranbaxy Laboratories (0.98%), Sun Pharmaceuticals (0.73%), ITC (0.46%) and Ambuja Cements (0.13%) were the losers.

Asian shares were moderately higher Tuesday taking cues from the positive close in the US. However, investors were not completely convinced by the rebound. The Nikkei 225 was up 0.81 per cent, the Hang Seng added 1.93 and the Straits Times climbed 1.65 per cent.

US indices ended higher Monday as higher oil prices saw energy shares lead the rally. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.48 per cent, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 0.59 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.66 per cent.

Japanese Shares Down 0.79 Per Cent In Morning

TOKYO: Japanese share prices were down 0.79 per cent Friday morning after a sharper than expected fall in machinery orders, a key gauge of corporate spending, dealers said.

The market swung back and forth in the morning session as dealers welcomed a rebound on Wall Street following its three-day skid and approval in the US Congress of a giant economic stimulus plan.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange's benchmark Nikkei-225 index was down 104.34 points at 13,102.81 at the end of the morning session.

The broader Topix index of all first-section shares was down 11.10 points or 0.85 percent at 1,293.98, slipping below the symbolic 1,300-point mark.