Sensex extends early gains, up 450 points

 The Sensex jumped over 450 points on Wednesday led by strong buying in banks and financial stocks.

The cabinet on Wednesday hiked the dearness allowance (DA) for government employees by 5 per cent.

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said that the government has hiked Dearness Allowance (DA) by 5 per cent, raising it from 12 per cent to 17 per cent.

ICICI Bank, State Bank of India and IndusInd Bank were trading over 4 to 5 per cent higher.

At 2.17 p.m.,the Sensex was up 459.59 points at 37,991.57 while the Nifty gained over 125 points to 11,251.80.IANS