Sensex up 53 pts on select value buying, firm global mkts

The Sensex, which lost 169 points yesterday, rose 52.83 points, or 0.30% to 17,636.80. It touched the day's low of 17,504.38 and a high of 17,731.88, with 16 of the 30 companies in the index making gains.

In choppy trade, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today gained 53 points on value buying in some stocks amid a firm trend in global markets.

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The Sensex, which lost 169 points yesterday, rose 52.83 points, or 0.30% to 17,636.80. It touched the day's low of 17,504.38 and a high of 17,731.88, with 16 of the 30 companies in the index making gains.

Similarly, the National Stock Exchange index Nifty rose 19.60 points, or 0.37% to 5,359.35.

Strong Asian markets and higher openings in Europe lifted the Indian equities as well, amid decline in US jobless claims and European leaders agreeing to speed up the bailout of Greece and the euro zone.

Meanwhile, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee today said the government has decided to study the auction process before going ahead with stake sale of other companies. Yesterday, it mopped up nearly Rs 12,733 crore through 5% stake auction in ONGC .

Reliance Industries rose 0.49% and Larsen and Toubro by 1.66%.

ICICI Bank, SBI, HDFC Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Bharti Airtel, HUL, Jindal Steel, NTPC, Tata Steel and Wipro made gains.

However, DLF fell 5.03%, after having lost lost 5% in the previous session amid reports of an analyst report raising concerns over its financial health.

The banking sector index gained the most by rising 1.40 % to 11,996.83, followed by healthcare - 0.83% at 6,404.95, capital goods - 0.58% at 10,317.12 and metal - 0.16% to 11,969.57.