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Markets advanced in the noon deals on the back of buying in heavyweight names like HDFC, Infosys, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma and Mahindra & Mahindra. At 1300 hrs, the Sensex was up 100 points at 20249 and the Nifty added 27 points at 6056.
In the broader markets, the midcap index advanced in line with the BSE benchmark index which gained 0.5% each while the smallcap index was flat with a positive bias.
In Asia, Japanese stocks struggled to extend gains on Monday as an initial rally sparked by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's big election win over the weekend fizzled with profit taking emerging after the yen bounced off lows.
Most other Asian share markets showed slight advances, although Hong Kong's Hang Seng was a touch lower.
Tokyo's Nikkei was flat, having earlier climbed as much as 1.2%. Exporters such as Toyota Motor Corp underperformed as the dollar slid below 100 yen.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan advanced 0.4%. South Korea's KOSPI rose 0.7% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was a little softer.
All the European markets started off in the negative with CAC, DAX and FTSE losing 0.1-0.2%.
Back home, among the sectoral indices, PSU, Power, Consumer Durables and Oil & Gas indices were the only ones in the red, losing 0.4-1.5%. Meanwhile, Teck, IT and Auto indices were trading higher by over 1% each followed by Bankex, realty, Metal and Capital Goods gaining 0.1-0.9%.
The top gainers among the Sensex-30 stocks were HDFC, Sun Pharma, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hindalco, Infosys, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp and Coal India gaining 1-3%.
The only names in the red in the noon deals were BHEL, ONGC, RIL, Gail India, Dr Reddys Lab and Tata Steel losing 1% each.
The market breadth was negative. 1,010 stocks declined while 966 stocks advanced on the BSE.
