Sensex Soars Over 400 Points, Nifty Above 15,200; financial and information technology stocks.lead gains

The benchmark indices are trading near the highs of the day, up more than half a per cent, on the back of buying interest in select financial and information technology stocks. At 12:45 pm, the Sensex was trading at 50,973.53, higher by 332.12 points or 0.65 per cent and the Nifty was at 15,290.55, up 82.85 pointsb or 0.54 per cent. The BSE midcap and smallcap shares were trading with gains of 0.1 per cent and 0.6 per cent respectively.

Financial stocks were in the limelight, with the Bajaj twins, Bajaj Finserv and Bajaj Finance rallying 2.7 per cent and 2.1 per cent respectively. Information technology stocks were also witnessing buying, with Wipro, Infosys and Tech Mahindra gaining 1-2 per cent each on the BSE.

And Grasim Industries jumped 4 per cent after the Aditya Birla Group company reported a 13.3 per cent rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 2,616.64 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31.

On the flip side, metal stocks are seeing selling pressure, with JSW Steel, Tata Steel and Hindalco registering losses of 1 per cent to 3 per cent each on the BSE.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,954 shares were advancing and 1017 were declining on the BSE.