Positive European cues ahead of a possible European Central Bank (ECB) stimulus and bullish investor sentiment on the back of further reforms announcement in the upcoming budget, led the two major benchmark indices of the Indian equities to make healthy gains in the mid-afternoon trade session Tuesday.

Both the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) reported healthy gains. Nifty also reclaimed the 8,600 mark points.

Healthy buying was seen in metal, banking, healthcare, consumer durables and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sectors, while capital goods and power sectors came under marginal selling pressure.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 28,324.85 points, was trading at 28,486.50 points (1.10 p.m.), up 224.49 points or 0.79 percent from the previous day's close at 28,262.01 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 28,534.72 points and a low of 28,324.85 points in the trade so far.

The S&P metal index surged by 222.64 points, banking index was up 198.73 points, healthcare index gained by 43.27 points, consumer durables index rose 35.52 points and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) index was 31.72 points.

However, capital goods index dropped by 48.54 points and power index slipped 2.63 points.
The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange reclaimed the 8,600 points mark. It was trading 67.10 points or 0.78 percent up at 8,617.80 points.