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Markets gained in closing trades with the Nifty crossing past 6,700 levels.
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(Updated at 1525 hrs)
After a brief dip in negative territory, benchmark indices came off day lows aided by the up move in index heavyweights like RIL, SBI and Infosys.
At 1430 hrs, the Sensex was up 52 points at 22,268 and the Nifty gained 26 points to trade at 6,668.
Meanwhile, the broader markets were firm with the both the mid and smallcap indices gaining over 1% each, outperforming the BSE benchmark index which saw a marginal 0.2% uptick.
Rupee
The rupee is trading at 60.07, off its eight-month high of 59.99 hit earlier in the day but still stronger than its close of 60.31/32 on Thursday. Gains in other Asian currencies versus the dollar limited further rise in the pair.
Sectors & Stocks
On the sectoral front, Realty, Power and Metal indices surged 1-2%.
Banking, Oil & Gas, Consumer Durables and Health Care indices added 0.6-0.9%.
The top losers in noon trades were HDFC twins down 1-1.5% and FMCG majors ITC and HUL losing 0.6-0.8%.
Auto majors Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra & Mahindra slipped 0.1-0.4%.
L&T and ICICI Bank were the other prominent losers.
Among the gainers were Hindalco, Tata Power, SBI, NTPC, SSLT and Bharti Airtel up 1.5-3.5%.
Axis Bank, Coal India, RIL, Dr Reddys Lab and Tata Steel up 1-1.4% were the other names in green.
The market breadth was positive on BSE. 1582 stocks advanced while 1104 stocks declined.
Global Markets
In Asia, markets held firm on hopes of stimulus in China. Speculation about the possibility of Chinese stimulus got a boost when Premier Li Keqiang was quoted by state media as saying the government would roll out targeted measures step by step to aid the economy.
Shanghai Composite edged down 0.2%, while Nikkei, Hang Seng and Straits Times gained between 0.2-1%.
European shares edged higher with all the three major indexes CAC, DAX and FTSE gaining 0.3-0.7%.
