SME Times News Bureau | 15 Feb, 2012
The benchmark index of the equity Wednesday regained 18,000 points level on by rising nearly 209 points in early trade on Wednesday on sustained buying by funds and retailers on better-than-expected quarterly earnings by corporates.

The BSE benchmark index Sensex, which had gained almost 100 points in last two trading sessions, shot up by 208.76 points, or 1.17 percent, to trade at 18,057.33 with all sectoral indices, led by auto and realty, gaining up to 2.63 percent.

The wide-based Nifty of the National Stock Exchange moved up by 60.25 points, or 1.11 percent, to 5,476.30.

Brokers said besides encouraging quarterly corporate earnings, firming trend on other Asian bourses on expectations of a solution to Greece's debt worries boosted the trading sentiment.

Better-than-expected quarterly earnings by Tata Motors and other blue-chip companies and easing inflation were other positive factors, they said. Tata Motors shot up by 6.68 percent to Rs 285.80.

In Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose by 0.09 percent and Japan's Nikkei Index by 1 percent in early trade on Wednesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended higher by 0.03 percent on Tuesday.