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Markets pared some of the early gains in noon deals on account of profit booking at higher levels. At 1415 hrs, the BSE benchmark index was up 335 points at 18,902 and the Nifty was up 122 points at 5,570.
Earlier in the day, the Sensex had touched a high of 19,117.
In the broader markets, midcap index was up 1.6% and the smallcap index gained 1.4% as compared to the 1.9% gain seen on the Sensex.
Global Markets
Asian stocks rose to three-week highs on Thursday as Indian shares and the rupee rallied a day after the country's new central bank chief unveiled measures to support the currency and the banking sector.
But worries the U.S. Federal Reserve will soon scale back stimulus kept markets in check. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan advanced 0.6%, having earlier hit a high last seen on August 19.
Tokyo's Nikkei closed a touch firmer, having lost a bit of steam after hitting a one-month high.
Mirroring Asia's performance, Europan markets too started with modest gains. CAC, DAX and FTSE gained between 0.4-1%.
Rupee
At 1415hrs, the Rupee was quoting at 66.05 against a dollar.
Earlier in the day, the rupee appreciated in early trade after the new RBI governor Raghuram Rajan lifted market sentiment yesterday by announcing a slew of measures.
The rupee opened at Rs 66.10 compared with previous close of Rs 67.09 per dollar. It rose as much as 2.3% to 65.53 per dollar, well off the record low 68.85 hit on August 28.
Sectors & Stocks
Back home, BSE Bankex index zoomed by over 8% followed by counters like Consumer Durables, Realty, PSU, FMCG, Capital Goods, Power and Oil & Gas, all gaining between 2-5%.
However, BSE IT index slumped by nearly 3%.
Banking shares on a roll on the bourses after RBI announced a slew of measures to benefit retail investors and revive the Indian economy.
YES Bank, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and ICICI Bank rallied more than 9-14%, while HDFC Bank, Bank of Baroda, Federal Bank, Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and Union Bank of India are up 5-7%.
From the Oil & Gas space, ONGC and Reliance Industries were up 4% and 1.2% respectively.
FMCG Majors ITC and HUL added 2-4%.
Among the auto names, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp gained 1-2%.
L&T, Coal India and NTPC up 2-3.5% were the other notable gainers.
Meanwhile, shares of IT companies were trading lower in otherwise firm market after the Indian rupee strengthens against the US dollar.
Among the individual stocks, TCS, Infosys and Wipro dipped 3% each.
The market breadth was very positive. 1,340 stocks advanced while 762 stocks declined on the BSE.
