Sensex crosses 18,000-level, Nifty breaches 5,400-mark

The BSE benchmark Sensex today regained the psychological 18,000 level after three months rising by over 176 points in late morning trade on aggressive buying on hopes of good first quarter results by corporates.

The BSE benchmark Sensex on Monday regained the psychological 18,000 level after three months rising by over 176 points in late morning trade on aggressive buying on hopes of good first quarter results by corporates.

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The 30-share barometer rose by 176.53 points, or 0.98 per cent, to 18,010.07 points, a level last seen on April 7, 2010.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty also breached the 5,400 points mark and was trading 50.25 points or 0.93 per cent higher at 5,402.70 points at 1030 hrs.

IT, metals and realty stocks remained front-runners on continued buying activity.

Brokers said expectations of strong earnings by corporates and firming trend on the other Asian bourses bolstered the trading sentiments, helping the Sensex to regain 18,000 points level.

Among major gainers, Infosys Technologies rose by 1.05 per cent to Rs 2,902, Reliance Industries up 0.95 per cent to Rs 1,065.90, DLF Ltd 2.08 per cent to Rs 301.85, Tata Steel 1.13 per cent to Rs 501.50 and Sterlite by 2.45 per cent to Rs 171.65.

Asian stocks kicked off a new week on Monday with modest gains, after Wall Street closed out its best week in a year on Friday.

The key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan and South Korea rose between 0.07 per cent and 0.81 per cent.