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Benchmark indices have the extended gains led by metal, banking and capital goods shares.
At 1500 hrs, the Sensex was up 384 points at 19,901 and the Nifty added 128 points to trade at 5,907.
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Updated at 14:00
Markets have continued to edge higher in the noon deals with the benchmark indices gaining over 1.5% each in noon deals. The gains were on the back of strength in financials and metal space.
At 1400 hrs, the Sensex was up 308 points at 19,825 and the Nifty added 107 points to trade at 5,887.
The broader markets too were in the green, with the midcap index up 1.45 and the smalcap index gained 0.8%, both underperforming the Sensex which was up 1.7%.
Most Asian markets were trading firm after China’s non-manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index climbed in September to 55.4 from 53.9 in August. However, gains were capped as the continuation of the US federal government shutdown weighed on investor sentiment. The Shanghai Composite, Hang Seng, Nikkei were up 0.3-0.9% each while Straits Times was marginally down.
The Indian rupee extended gains after the current account deficit (CAD) for the first quarter of the current fiscal (April-June) was in line with market expectations.
At 1400 hrs, the partially convertible rupee was trading at 61.90 per dollar against the Tuesday’s close of 62.46 on the Interbank Foreign Exchange.
The BSE Metal index up 4% was the top sectoral gainer followed by IT, Bankex and Capital Goods indices up 2-2.5%.
The only laggard was the FMCG index, down 0.7%.
Metal stocks firmed up on hopes that encouraging data from china would result in higher demand from China, the world's largest consumer of metals. Sesa Goa, Tata Steel, Hindalco and Jindal Steel were up 3-8% each.
IT stocks continued to trade firm ahead of Infosys' second quarter earnings due to be released next week. Infosys was up 0.4% and Wipro gained 3.5% and TCS was up 4%.
Auto stocks firmed up on better-than-expected September sales numbers. Tata Motors was up 3%, Bajaj Auto gained 3.5%, Hero MotoCorp was up 1.1%, Mahindra & Mahindra was up 1.5% and Maruti Suzuki gained 2.3%.
The only losers among the Sensex-30 were FMCG names ITC and HUL down 1.3% and 1.5% respectively.
The market breadth was positive on the BSE. 1,409 stocks advanced while 878 stocks declined.
