Sensex pares some losses; BHEL, Tata Motor, Infy up over 2%

The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty remained higher as the current optimism may be on hopes that the government may take some action on diesel price after today's Presidential poll. Brent crude rose 1.1% yesterday to USD 105.2 a barrel, which rallied by USD 5 a barrel this week itself and gained more than 20% in a month.

The BSE benchmark gained 91 points at 17,276 and the NSE benchmark went up 25.45 points to 5,241.75, though there were some bouts of profit booking.

Infosys, country's No. 2 software services exporter rose over 2% while its rivals TCS and Wipro were up 0.77%-1.35%.

State-owned power equipment maker surged more than 2.5% as today cabinet is likely to discuss a proposal to impose 21% duty on equipment imported for power generation. Engineering and construction major by sales Larsen & Toubro moved up 0.9%.

Top commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors rebounded with 2% gains whereas top car maker Maruti Suzuki plunged 7% on workers' strike at Manesar plant.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries gained 0.8% and housing finance company HDFC was up 0.5%.

Country's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank jumped 1.5% while its rivals HDFC Bank and State Bank of India were up just 0.2%.

However, shares of Bharti Airtel tanked 2% ahead of EGoM tomorrow. ITC, ONGC, Hero Motocorp (ahead of numbers) and Dr Reddy's Labs (ahead of earnings) were down 0.3%-0.6%.

In the second line shares, Greaves Cotton, Jain Irrigation, TTK Prestige, KPIT Cummins and DB Corp climbed 3-4% whereas Cholamandalam, CRISIL, Sanofi India, Gillette India and Carborundum lost 2-4%.