At 10:22 hours IST - the benchmark Sensex was trading above 18000 level, with more than 150 points gains, supported by 25 stocks out of 30. Financial, capital goods, auto, metal, FMCG, oil & gas exploration and telecom companies' shares were helping the markets.

Even Asian cues were quite supportive today. Shanghai, Hang Seng, Kospi and Taiwan were trading 1-1.7% higher. Straits Times was up 0.9% and Nikkei up 0.6%.
The Sensex was trading at 18025, up 157 points and the Nifty was at 5414, up 47 points. The broader indices were up nearly one percent each.

Good auto sales numbers for the month of July 2010 pushed auto companies' shares up. Bajaj Auto's total sales jumped 65% at 3.18 lakh; Tata Motors' sales went up 41% at 67799 and TVS Motor's total 2 wheeler sales up 35% at 1.63 lakh units (YoY). Maruti Suzuki sales rose 29.2% to 1,00,857 units (YoY). Tata Motors, Hero Honda, Maruti, Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor rose 1-1.8%.