Sensex up 483 pts on strong global cues

MUMBAI: Buoyed by firm global cues, the BSE benchmark Sensex gained 483 points in late morning trade on Wednesday after billionaire investor Warren Buffett's offer had soothing impact on world markets.

Buffett offered to reinsure 800 billion dollars of US municipal bond risk from top three bond insurers helping sooth concerns over continued credit crisis fallout.

The offer eased fears of credit downgrades at US bond insurers and triggered a sharp rally on Wall Street on Tuesday as well as a surge in Asian stocks this morning.

The 30-share BSE barometer also recovered sharply and was quoted at 17,090.65 at 10.45 am, up 482.64 points over previous close of 16,608.01.
   
Similarly, the National Stock Exchange index, Nifty, shot up by 128.05 points to 4,966.30 at 10.45 am from last close of 4,838.25.
   
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), however, remained net sellers in the last two days. They pulled out Rs 498.06 crore from equity on February 12, as per provisional data.