At 12:30 PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 220 points 24,516 and the 50-share Nifty was up 62 points 7,315.

Adds Mohit Gaba, independent technical analyst & trader, “The bullish bias on the Nifty continues as long as it trades above 7190. The index is consolidating after such a steep up move. The range of the Nifty is 7190 – 7330”.

On the global front, Japanese stocks led a surge in Asian equities to a one-year high on Thursday, after an upbeat reading on China's factory sector burnished risk appetite and blunted some of the more pessimistic views on the world's second-biggest economy.

Spreadbetters expect the momentum to carry over to Europe, with Britain's FTSE seen opening up as much as 0.2%, Germany's DAX 0.3% and France's CAC 0.2% higher.

Equities were already on the front foot after minutes of the US Federal Reserve's last meeting reassured investors that policy makers will continue to support the economy, depressing the safe-haven yen.

Back home, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 266.22 crore on Wednesday, 21 May 2014, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was spotted buying dollars via state-run banks starting around 58.55, which was the rupee's strongest intra-day level, three traders said.

On the sectoral front, BSE Consumer Durables index has zoomed by 7% followed by counters like Realty, Capital Goods, Power, Auto, Metal, Auto and Banks, all gaining between 1-5%. However, BSE IT index is trading marginally lower.

The main gainers on the Sensex at this hour include Coal India, Maruti Suzuki, NTPC, Sesa Sterlite, Tata Power, RIL, Tata Steel and ICICI Bank.

Coal India has surged 7% to Rs 398 on reports that Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi is exploring the possibility of breaking up the state behemoth and opening the sector to foreign investment to boost output and cut imports.

Bajaj Auto is trading higher by 3% to Rs 2,017, extending its previous day’s 5% rally, on reports that Egypt government has lifted the ban on imports of two-wheelers and three-wheelers into the country which was in effect since February 2014.

Jewellery makers have rallied by up to 20% after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) eased gold import rules by allowing select trading houses, in addition to already permitted banks, to procure the precious metal to boost exports.

Titan Company, Gitanjali Gems, PC Jeweller, Thangamayil Jewellery, Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri (TBZ), Renaissance Jewellery, Rajesh Exports and Shree Ganesh Jewellery House are up 5-20% each on the BSE.

Real estate shares continue at their upward move fifth day in a row after the emphatic win of Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2014 General Elections.

DLF, Indiabulls Real Estate, D B Realty, Unitech, Housing Development and Infrastructure (HDIL), Anant Raj, Mahindra Lifespace Developers and Godrej Properties have gained between 4-9% today on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The broader markets are outperforming the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices have gained between 2-3%.

The market breadth in BSE remains extremely firm 2,162 shares advancing and 579 shares declining.