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Markets came off their early highs amid profit taking but continued to trade firm with FMCG major leading the gains.
At 11:40AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 88 points at 29,183 and 50-share Nifty was up 21 points at 8,826.
The Indian rupee was trading unchanged at 62.19 to the US dollar compared to Friday's close of 62.19.
Foreign institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 390 crore on Friday, as per provisional stock exchange data.
Stocks in Japan hit an eight-year high on Monday on the back of encourgaing economic data. Data showed that the Japanese economy grew 0.6% in the fourth quarter of 2014. The Nikkei was up 0.5% and Hang Seng was up 0.3%. However, Shanghai Composite was trading flat while Straits Times was down 0.3%.
BSE Realty and FMCG indices were the top gainers up over 1.4% each followed by Power, Metal and Auto indices.
ITC was up 1.9% extending its previous day’s 2% gain on BSE, after the company acquired trademarks for 'Savlon' and 'Shower To Shower' in India from Johnson & Johnson for an undisclosed amount. Hindustan Unilever was up 2.5%.
HDFC Bank was up 1.3% on better-than-expected third quarter earnings. HDFC Bank, India’s second largest private sector bank, has reported a 20 per cent growth in net profit in October-December quarter to Rs 2,794.5 crore. Mortgage lender HDFC was up 1%.
Other Sensex gainers include, Tata Motors, TCS, Bharti Airtel and Dr Reddy's Labs among others.
Sun Pharma was down 2% after reporting 7% year-on-year (yoy) decline in its consolidated net profit at Rs 1,425 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2014 (Q3). The pharmaceutical company had profit of Rs 1,531 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.
Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, L&T, Reliance Industries and Infosys were the top Sensex losers.
Among other shares, Shares of Tree House Education & Accessories (Tree House) has surged 7% to Rs 514 on NSE after the company said it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for sale of its land and building located at Vadodara in state of Gujarat for Rs 52.50 crore.
Shares of Rajesh Exports jumped 6% to Rs 179 after the company's consolidated net profit for the third quarter ended December 31, 2014 surged 87% to Rs 171 crore compared to Rs 92 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.
In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices weer trading with marginal gains.
Market breadth was weak with 1,289 losers and 1,164 gainers on the BSE.
