Sensex up 257 points at mid-session


Mumbai: Led by banking and realty stocks, the BSE Sensex rallied by over 257 points on brisk buying in blue-chips, despite India's economic growth slowing to 7.8 percent in the fourth quarter. The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex, which had gained 104.58 points in opening trade, continued its upward march to trade 257.58 points, or 1.41 per cent, higher at 18,489.64 at 1330 hours, with all the sectoral indices, led by realty and banking, trading in positive territory with gains of up to 2.18 per cent. The broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty also surged by 84.15 points, or 1.52 per cent, to 5,557.25. Brokers said positive cues from European markets, which opened higher, and a firming trend on other Asian bourses mainly influenced the trading sentiment. They said, however, the slowdown in the country's economy, which grew by just 7.8 per cent in the fourth quarter ending March, restricted the gains.
Source: PTI