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Markets retained gains in early noon trades with the Sensex up 117 points at 18,852 and the Nifty gained 38 points at 5,689. Positive global cues and buying in oil &gas and financials lead the markets higher.
In the broader markets, the midcap index outperformed with a 0.9% gain as compared to the smallcap index stepping up 0.5% and the BSE benchmark index gaining 0.6%.
Meanwhile, Asian markets rose 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.
Cyprus agreed with the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund on Monday for a bailout that will shut down its second-largest bank and inflict heavy losses on uninsured depositors, including wealthy Russians.
The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan climbed 0.8%, bouncing off its lowest level in three months struck earlier last week. South Korean shares jumped 1.5% after closing the previous week at a 5-week low.
Japan's Nikkei stock average advanced 1.7% to inch closer to a 4-1/2-year high.
Back home, among the sectoral indices, Realty index advanced over 3% along with PSU, Oil & Gas, Power, Metal and Consumer Durables indices adding 1-2% in early noon deals.
Bankex, Consumer Durables, Health Care and Auto too were in the positive territory, up 0.1-0.9%.
However, IT and Teck index down 0.2% was the only index in the red.
Among the Sensex stocks, Hero MotoCorp, ITC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Infosys, Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel and Wipro down 0.2-1% were the only losers.
The gainers, on the other hand, were ONGC, NTPC, HDFC, Sterlite, Jindal Steel, SBI, HDFC Bank, Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors up 1-5%.
Index heavyweight, Reliance Industries added 0.7%.
Coal India was marginally up 0.5% as J.P.Morgan upgraded Coal India to "neutral" from "underweight", saying the drop in the share price this year is making the risk reward relatively more attractive.
After a brief drop into the red, shares of Hindustan Unilever gained 0.4% after Deutsche Bank upgraded India's largest consumer goods maker to "buy" from "neutral" and raised its target price to Rs 530 from Rs 500.
Nestle India dipped 1.3% after the Indian unit of Nestle Group said it would implement a staggered increase in royalty payments of 0.2% per year over the next five years to the parent company.
The market breadth was negative. 1314 stocks declined while 1260 stocks advanced on the BSE.
