At 10:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex jumped 601.63 points or 0.74% to 81,687.84. The Nifty 50 index advanced 179.65 points or 0.72% to 25,002.80.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 0.53% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.40%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 2,207 shares rose and 1,546 shares fell. A total of 195 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

India’s forex reserves jumped by $4.546 billion to $674.664 billion during the week ended August 16, according to the latest RBI data.

In the previous week, the forex kitty had dropped by $4.8 billion to $670.119 billion. On August 2, the overall reserves hit an all-time high of $674.919 billion.

The foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, increased by $3.609 billion to $591.569 billion, the RBI data showed.

Gold reserves increased by $865 million to $60.104 billion during the week ended August 16. The special drawing rights (SDRs) were up by $60 million to $18.341 billion.

India’s reserve position with the IMF was up by $12 million to $4.65 billion during the week, said the RBI.

New Listing:

Shares of Interarch Building Products were currently trading at Rs 1,241.60 at 10:15 IST on the BSE, representing a premium of 36.98% as compared with the issue price of Rs 900.

The scrip was listed at Rs 1,291.20, exhibiting a premium of 43.47% to the issue price.

So far, the stock has hit a high of 1,316 and a low of 1214.45. On the BSE, over 4.28 lakh shares of the company were traded in the counter so far.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index gained 1.64% to 41,763.95. The index fell 1.16% in past three consecutive trading sessions.

Persistent Systems (up 3.23%), Mphasis (up 2.31%), Wipro (up 2.06%), Coforge (up 1.99%), Tata Consultancy Services (up 1.62%), LTIMindtree (up 1.51%), Infosys (up 1.18%), Tech Mahindra (up 1.1%), HCL Technologies (up 1.06%) and L&T Technology Services (up 0.89%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight:

KEC International jumped 3.52% after the company said that it has secured new orders of Rs 1,079 crore in transmission & distribution (T&D) and cables businesses.

Lemon Tree Hotels rose 0.57%. The company has signed a license agreement under its upscale brand, Aurika Hotels & Resorts, with Aurika, Surat in Gujarat.