Trading got off to a positive start on the major Indian bourses this morning with a few blue chip stocks, including heavyweight Reliance Industries, surging higher on strong buying enquiries in early trade. The positive close on Wall Street, the steady start on the Asian bourses and short-covering ahead of June series derivatives expiry appear to be driving stock prices up in opening trade.

Mirroring the buoyant start, the Sensex, which shot up to 14,389.82 after opening with a positive gap of over 80 points at 14,300.72, is up with a strong gain of 127.22 points or 0.89% at 14,347.29 at present. The Nifty is up 0.55% or 23.50 points at 4276.15. Earlier, after opening at 4252.60, it had progressed to a high of 4293.25.

Reliance Industries has posted a sharp gain of 2.25% at Rs 2183.20. HDFC, Jaiprakash Associates, Larsen & Toubro and Satyam Computer Services have gained 2% - 3%.

BHEL, Cipla, HDFC Bank, Hindalco, Infosys Technologies, ICICI Bank, Reliance Communications, Ranbaxy Laboratories, Reliance Infrastructure, State Bank of India, Tata Motors and Tata Steel have also risen sharply.

ACC, ITC and ONGC also trade positive. Ambuja Cements, Bharti Airtel, Hindustan Unilever, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro trade weak.

Tata Communications, up 3.5% at Rs 373.20, is the top gainer in the Nifty index. Unitech, Idea Cellular, Sterlite Industries, Tata Power, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Suzlon Energy, Powre Grid, Nalco, SAIL, Punjab National Bank and Suzlon Energy have also posted impressive gains.