The markets continued to trade firm in late-morning trades with the BSE Sensex at 17,820, up 232 points and the Nifty at 5,433, up 74 points.
Earlier in the day, the BSE benchmark index had touched the day's high at 17,834 and the day's low at 17,680.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei average breached 10,000 for the third straight session before trimming gains, lifted by defensive buying as investors looked for signs of further easing from the Bank of Japan. The index is currently at 9,926, up 0.37%. The Hang Send index has advanced 1% while the Shanghai Composite index is marginally lower by 0.19%.
All the sectoral indices are witnessing positive trades. BSE Metal, Realty, Oil & Gas and Capital Goods indices, up 2-3% each, are leading the gains.
Steel Authority of India, Sesa Goa, Sterlite Industries, Jindal Steel & Power and Hindustan Zinc, up 3-5% each, are the notable gainers from among the Metal stocks.
On the Sensex, Sterlite Industries, Jindal Steel, BHEL, Maruti Suzuki and Gail are the prominent gainers, up 3-4% each. The losers from the pack are Mahindra & Mahindra and Bajaj Auto, down 1% each. Bharti Airtel is marginally lower by 0.12% at Rs 338.4.
Wipro has shed 1.4% to Rs 431. A trust controlled by Wipro's billionaire founder Azim Premji plans to sell up to 35 million shares or around a 1.4% stake in the software company on the stock market via a new auction process to fund education projects.
Jet Airways has dipped 1% to Rs 289 as markets continued to react to news in spite of the company stating that the tax authorities have not frozen the airline's bank accounts.
SKS Microfinance is trading higher by 6% at Rs 139, extending its previous day’s 8% gains, on expectation that the Micro Finance Institution (MFI) Bill will be tabled in the current session of Parliament.
Unitech has gained nearly 2% at Rs 31, after the real estate major said that it is eyeing sales realisation of about Rs 250 crore over two years from the luxury housing project in Bangalore.
The overall market breadth is positive as 1,583 stocks have advanced against 846 declining ones, on the BSE.
