)
Benchmark indices have extended the gains and have reached near day’s high led by buying among Metal, Capital Goods and Oil & Gas shares.
By 1310, the Sensex was up 129 points at 18,994 and the Nifty gained 31 points to 5,735.
In the US markets, the Institute for Supply Management said its index of national factory activity fell to 51.3 from 54.2 in February, with new orders, a key indicator of future growth, accounting for much of the fall.
Meanwhile, Asian shares inched higher with investors growing cautious ahead of new indicators that could flag slowing U.S. economic momentum.
The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.3%, underpinned by higher Australian and Chinese shares.
South Korean shares were barely changed while Japanese stocks slumped as investors rushed to book profits after a stellar first-quarter showing.
The Nikkei stock average tumbled as much as 2.7% to a one-month low before trimming most of the losses to fall 0.2% by midday. The BOJ is expected to announce fresh stimulus measures under its new leadership in line with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's drive to reflate the economy.
Back home, the rupee trimmed initial losses but was still quoted lower by two paise to 54.31 per dollar in the late morning trade on mild buying of dollars from banks in spite of weakness of the US unit in overseas markets.
On the sectoral front, BSE Capital Goods, Metal and Healthcare indices have surged by nearly 2% each followed by counters like Oil & Gas, PSU, Consumer Durable, Power and IT, all gaining by 1% each. However, BSE Realty index has declined the nearly 1%.
The main gainers on the Sensex at this hour include Sun Pharma, Wipro, Sterlite, Cipla, L&T, JSPL, Tata Steel and RIL.
Larsen and Toubro (L&T) is trading higher by 2% at Rs 1,418 after the company said it has secured new orders worth of Rs 3,700 crore across various business segments in March 2013.
Maruti Suzuki India has moved higher by over 2% at Rs 1,310, bouncing back almost 4% from intra-day’s low after reporting 9.5% month-on-month growth in car sales at 119,937 units for the month of March. The country’s largest car manufacturer had sold 109,567 units in February 2013.
Among others shares, Strides Arcolab has moved higher by 4.5% to Rs 908 after the company said that its promoters have released more than two million pledge shares lying with lenders.
The market breadth in BSE remains firm 1,625 advancing and 865 shares declining.
