 "Sensex up over 100 points; Infosys, TCS up 2%")
Markets continue to remain firm after the first hour of trade following a rally in IT stocks after upbeat US economic data signalled that growth in the world's largest economy is gaining momentum.
At 10:30AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 122 points at 27,141 and the 50-share Nifty was up 34 points at 8,116.
The Indian rupee was trading higher at 60.58 compared to the previous close of Rs 60.68 tracking gains in the domestic stock market.
The BSE IT index was the top gainer among the sectoral indices up 2% followed by Consumer Durables, Metal and Realty among others.
Infosys and TCS were up 2% while Wipro was up 1.6% contributing the most to the Sensex gains.
Other Sensex gainers include, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors and L&T among others.
Among other shares, Era Infra Engineering has surged nearly 5% to Rs 16.55 on the BSE after receiving a construction contract from Airport Authority of India (AAI). Era Infra Engineering has been awarded a contract for construction of New Integrated Terminal Building at VSI Airport, Port Blair amounting to Rs 315 crore by AAI, as reported on the BSE.
In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap index was up 0.7% and the Small-cap index was up 0.6%.
Market breadth was strong with 1,423 gainers and 926 losers on the BSE.
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(Updated at 9:30AM)
Markets opened at record highs, anid firm Asian cues, led by IT shares after the rupee weakened against the US dollar..
At 9:30, the 30-share Sensex was up 86 points at 27,106 and 50-share Nifty was up 24 points at 8,107.
Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, ONGC, Cipla, L&T and Tata Power were among the top Sensex gainers in opening trades.
On the global front, Asian shares were trading higher with Hang Seng rebounding after lacklustre movement in the previous sessions. Japanese shares were up on the back of a weaker yen.
The benchmark Nikkei was up 0.8%, while the Hang Seng was up over 1%. Chinese shares were up 0.7% while Singapore's Straits Times was trading marginally higher by 0.2%.
Major US stock markets ended lower on Tuesday, shrugging off robust manufacturing data, as investors booked profits in energy shares on the back of declining crude oil prices.
Manufacturing activity in the US surged to a three-and-half year high in August and construction spending rebounded in July. National factory activity increased to 59.0 in August, the highest since March 2011, from 57.1 in July. The Dow Jones ended down 0.2% at 17,067.56, the broader S&P 500 closed 0.05% down at 2,002.28 and the tech-laden Nasdaq ended down 0.4% at 4,598.19.
The BSE Consumer Durables index was the top sectoral gainer up 1% followed by IT, Auto, Oil and Gas and Capital Goods indices among others.
Infosys, Wipro and TCS were up 1% after the rupee weakened against the US dollar. All these IT majors earn most of their revenues from exports to the US.
Bharti Airtel extended gains and was up 2% on the back of acquisition in Kenya.
Tata Motors was up over 1% on the back of an order of 2,700 buses under JNURM scheme.
Other Sensex gainers include, Reliance Industries and L&T.
The market breadth was positive with 927 gainers and 217 losers on the BSE.