Sensex up 300 points in early trade

On Thursday, the stock market started with a positive attitude. The Sensex rose 149.11 points to 37996.76 and the Nifty rose 44.20 points to 11315.50. Up to 9.45 am, the Sensex had gained nearly 300 points. At the beginning of the trading, 353 shares slipped and 505 shares advanced.

Among the leading stocks, ICICI Prudential, SAIL, Cadila Healthcare, Kansai Nerlak, Jee Entertainment, Sagar Cement, Bharti Infratel, Berger Paints etc. remained, while IDFC First Bank, Syndicate Bank, Biocon and Oberoi Realty were among the loss-making shares.

The rupee started flat at 68.98 against the dollar. Crude oil was seen strong on Thursday, while the worsening of the first global slowdown had softened.

Earlier, the domestic stock market had declined for the fifth consecutive day on Wednesday. The Sensex slipped 135 points to close at 37,848 and the Nifty also closed 60 points down from the psychological level of 11,300. Due to the sell-off of foreign investors, the domestic stock market remained consistently slow down. Metal and auto-sector stocks have seen a huge decline. Mid-caps and small-cap indices of BSE were down by more than one per cent.

The 30-share index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex rose 7.49 points to end at 37,990.23, but closed at the end of the session with 135.09 points, or 0.36 percent, at 37,847.65. During the day's trading, the upper level of the Sensex was 38,102.84 and the lower level was 37,708.41.