Sensex climbs 379 pts in early trade

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Snapping the downward trend, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex shot up by over 379 points in early trade today on revival of buying by FIIs after SEBI eased curbs on indirect investments by foreign funds and the RBI slashed CRR.

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The 30-share index, which had plunged 724.62 points on Monday, recovered by 379.73 points to 12,181.43 points following rebound in the stocks of banking, capital goods, realty and oil and gas sectors.       Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange's index rose by 127.05 at 3,729.40. Market analysts said market regulator SEBI's move to lift some curbs on foreign institutional investors (FIIs) imposed a year ago and a 50 basis points cut in Cash Reserve Ratio by the Reserve Bank of India, buoyed the trading sentiment. They said in view of change in the market's scenario, speculators were seen covering up their short positions. Major gainers in the morning trade were Reliance Industries, which shot up by Rs 36.10 at Rs 1678, and Reliance Infra that gained Rs 19.50 at Rs 657.50.       Among banking stocks, largest lender, state-run State Bank of India surged Rs 43.05 at Rs 1,477.05, ICICI Bank gained Rs 21.80 at Rs 512.25 and HDFC Bank rose by Rs 30.10 at Rs 1,232.       IT bellwether, Infosys Technologies climbed by Rs 34.30 at Rs 1352.10, Tata Consultancy was up by Rs 17.75 at Rs 637 and Wipro rose by Rs 3.40 at Rs 323.