MindTree was the most-active stocks with a turnover of Rs 162.25 crore followed by SBI and Reliance Communications.

Advancers

BHEL led the Sensex advancers, up 6% to Rs 2,230. Bank shares extended their gains from Wednesday. HDFC Bank gained 5.9% to Rs 1,023 and ICICI Bank rose 3% to Rs 987. State banks also surged. State Bank of India rose 4.7% to Rs 1,029, Bank of India gained 11% to Rs 174, Canara Bank surged 7.5% to Rs 207 and Punjab National Bank added 7%, to Rs 485. Banks had rallied on Wednesday on value-buying, as well as on short-covering in the derivatives.

IT large-caps advanced on the rupeedip against the US dollar. Wipro gained 2.8% to Rs 598, Satyam Computer advanced nearly 3.4% to Rs 467, TCS added 3% to Rs 1,307 and Infosys rose 1.1% to Rs 2,117.

Oil large-cap ONGC surged nearly 4.9% to Rs 852. Auto shares also surged. Maruti Udyog gained almost 5% to Rs 831, Hero Honda advanced 4.7% to Rs 681, Tata Motors gained 3.8% to Rs 806, and Bajaj Auto rose 3% to Rs 2576. Mahindra & Mahindra rose 3.4% to Rs 781. Engineering & construction company L&T surged 4.7% to Rs 1,573. The company is sitting on a strong order-book.

Reliance Industries rallied nearly 3% to Rs 1,378. Reliance Industries announced on Thursday that Rohm and Haas Co, US, and itself were exploring joint construction of an acrylic-monomer plant in India. The plant in question will be in Jamnagar and will be able to produce 2 lakh tons of acrylic acid and its esters annually.

Decliners

Grasim was the only decliner in the Sensex stocks. Its shares dipped 1.2% to Rs 2,081. Reportedly, cement makers have declined a request by the government to cut prices. A meeting was held today between the finance minister and cement makers,


8:00AM European markets were higher on Thursday on bid talk.
European markets were higher on Thursday. By midday, Frankfurt Xetra Dax rose 1.7% to 6,826.46, the CAC 40 added 1.4% to 5,576.27 and London FTSE 100 climbed 0.8% to 6,303.9.

Advancers

ING gained 2.4%, as the news that a cross-border deal in the financial services sector was in progress helped underpin broader gains for European equities. The news came as Barclays of the UK continued merger talks with Dutch peer ABN Amro. Although there were still no financial details, Barclays moved 2% higher and ABN gained 0.7%.

Eiffage added a further 13% to the previous session 7% gain. Sacyr Vallehermoso of Spain may sell its stake in oil company Repsol to help fund a purchase of Eiffage, in which it already owns 32.6%. In the other scenario, French rival Vinci might fend off approaches. Shares in Sacyr gained 1.7 %, while Vinci edged 0.2% higher.

In the banking sector, shares in Unicredit, the Italian bank, gained 1.9% after it reported a forecast-beating 61% rise in full-year net profit. Broker comment supported Dutch group Aegon, up 2.7%, France Axa, 3.5% stronger, Allianz of Germany, 3% higher and Zurich Financial, up 1.5%.

Decliners

Health-care companies were underperforming. Shares in AstraZeneca slipped 0.7%, while GlaxoSmithKline was almost flat, up 0.1%. Alcatel-Lucent shares lost 0.3%. The company was downgraded to neutral from buy at Goldman Sachs

Oil and gold

Oil advanced for a third day in New York on signs of increasing demand from U.S. refineries. Crude oil for May delivery rose as much as $1.20, or 2%, to $60.81 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for May settlement rose as much as $1.28, or 2.1 %, to $62.05 a barrel in electronic trading on the ICE Futures exchange.

Gold for immediate delivery was little changed at $664.25 an ounce in early trade in London. Silver gained 5 cents to $13.375 an ounce. Platinum rose $3 to $1,236.50 and palladium was unchanged at $353.50.

Currencies