Markets continued to trade on a firm note in late morning trades with the Sensex up 142 points at 19568. Nifty was up 43 points at 5,947.
Markets are likely to retain the strength in the absence of cues from global peers as most markets overseas are shut for the New Year. The intraday upmove was triggered by US policy makers reaching an agreement late on Monday to avert the imminent fiscal cliff of wide-reaching tax hikes and deep spending cuts in the world's biggest economy.
FIIs bought shares worth a net Rs 826.34 crore on Monday, 31 December 2012, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
BSE realty index has jumped 2% to 2,149. Metal, capital goods, power and consumer durables indices are also trading strong with gains of over 1% each.
Jindal Steel is the top Sensex gainer - up 2.6% at Rs 459. Hindalco, Tata Steel and Sterlite are the other metal gainers this morning. BHEL is up 1.7% at Rs 232. SBI has gained 1.7%. Among other key movers are HDFC, larsen & TOubro and ICICI Bank - contributing around 45 points to the Sensex's upmove.
However, some weakness can now be seen in Wipro which is marginally down at Rs 394. Hero MotoCorp is flat at Rs 1,897.
Cairn India rose as US crude oil futures advanced to 2-month high. PSU OMCs also fell for the same reason.
BSE market breadth was fairly positive. Out of 2449 stocks traded, 1,606 stocks advanced while 736 stocks declined.
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