The Sensex has surged by over 277 points mid-way through Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's Budget presentation, in which he proposed to keep up the tempo of the disinvestment process and contain inflation to boost the economy. The bellwether Sensex rose by 277 points to 17,978 points even as Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee made his Budget presentation in Parliament today. The broad-based national Stock Exchange' Nifty also saw an upswing and shot up by 84 points to 5,387 points. The Sensex is close to breaching the 18,000 points level points, driven by brisk buying in Sensex heavyweights. All the 13 sectoral indices were trading in the positive terrain, barring auto.