The Sensex and Nifty were trading higher by nearly 0.6 per cent owing to firm Asian cues.

At 2.45 p.m., the 30-share BSE index Sensex was up 158.02 points or 0.56 per cent at 28,313.58 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was up 51.45 points or 0.59 per cent at 8,776.15.

Barring FMCG, all other BSE sectoral indices were trading in the green. Among them, realty index gained the most by 2.09 per cent, followed by healthcare 2.03 per cent, IT 1.91 per cent and metal 1.81 per cent, while FMCG index was down 0.79 per cent.

Top five Sensex gainers were Sun Pharma (+3.91%), Maruti (+2.82%), Infosys (+2.7%), Tata Motors (+2.15%) and Tata Steel (+1.74%), while the major losers were ITC (-1.98%), Asian Paints (-1.08%), Adani Ports (-0.72%), Coal India (-0.69%) and L&T (-0.58%).

IT stocks led the gains after Tata Consultancy Services Ltd said its board would consider a share buyback plan at a meeting next week.

Shares of TCS, the country's biggest software services exporter, rose as much as 2.7 per cent to their highest since September 7, 2016, heading for their 10th session of gains in 12 this month.

“It (the share buyback news) will set a floor for the stock in the near term... May improve sentiment for other IT stocks but will be a short-term impact,” said Dipen Shah, senior vice president and head of private client group research, Kotak Securities.

The Nifty IT index rose as much as 1.6 per cent to a more than five-month high with Infosys 1.7 per cent higher and Tech Mahindra up 1.6 per cent.

Among other leading gainers, State Bank of India climbed as much as 3 per cent after the federal cabinet had on Wednesday approved its planned merger with five subsidiary banks.

Early trade

The 30-share barometer gained 109.11 points or 0.38 per cent to 28,264.67. The gauge had lost 196.06 points in the previous two sessions.

Also, the NSE Nifty rose 26.75 points or 0.3 per cent to 8,751.45.

Asian markets

Asian stocks edged to new 19-month highs on Thursday with gains underpinned by an ongoing rally on Wall Street, while the dollar came in for a bout of profit-taking after its recent bounce.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.2 per cent to its highest since July 2015. It is up by a tenth this year thanks to more optimistic earnings expectations and an unwinding of bearish emerging market bets.