Benchmark indices continue to maintain the upbeat trend tracking firm global cues along with buying demand among Oil & Gas and PSU shares.
By 1030, Sensex gained by 122 points at 18,858, and the Nifty was up 39 points or 0.68% at 5,690 levels.
On the global front, the euro and Asian shares rose on Monday after Cyprus did a last-ditch deal with international lenders for a 10 billion euro bailout hours before a deadline to avert a financial collapse on the Mediterranean island. The euro rose to a session high of $1.3050 from around $1.2980 on the news, moving away from a four-month low of $1.2844 hit on Tuesday.
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The euro climbed 0.8 percent against the yen to 123.54 while the Australian dollar touched a high of 99.25 against the yen, inching closer to a 4-1/2-year peak of 99.99 yen hit earlier this month.
Back home, the rupee appreciated by 24 paise to 54.09 against the US dollar in early trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange today on sustained selling of the American currency by exporters and banks and increased capital inflows.
On the sectoral front, BSE Realty index has surged by over 2% followed by counters like PSU, Oil & Gas, Power, Consumer Durables, Banks, Capital Goods and Metal, all gaining by 1% each. However, BSE IT index has declined marginally.
ONGC is the top Sensex gainer, up nearly 4%. Other notable gainers include HDFC, NTPC, JSPL, Maruti Suzuki, SBI, Hindalco, ICICI Bank and Sterlite have gained between 1-2%.
On the losing side, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Auto, Coal India and Hero Moto have slipped by nearly 1% each.
Among other shares, Cairn India is trading higher by 2% at Rs 283 after the oil exploration and production firm said that it has commenced commercial sale of gas from its Barmer basin in Rajasthan.
Shares of state-owned oil marking companies (OMC), including refinery stocks have rallied up to 5% after the public sector oil retailers increased diesel retail prices by 45 paise a litre from Saturday.
All three listed OMC companies - Indian Oil Corporation, HPCL and BPCL are trading higher by 3% each, while Oil India has surged almost 5% and ONGC is up 4% in morning deals on BSE compared to less than 1% rise in benchmark Sensex.
The broader indices are outperforming the benchmark indices; the BSE Midcap Index is up 1% and Smallcap is up 1%.
The market breadth in BSE remains positive with 1,189 shares advancing and 880 shares declining.