Sensex up 40 points; BSE Mid-cap up 1%

After a firm start, market pared gains marginally after surging to new highs in opening trades a day after March series F&O expiry. The sentiment is positve owing to positive global cues and rising rupee.

The rupee surged to its highest levels since July 30, 2013. It was last seen trading at 60.075-a-dollar.

Asian stocks surged tracking positive data from the US. U.S. economy grew at 2.6%, faster than estimated earlier in the fourth quarter, showed data released recently

At 10:33 am, the 30-share Sensex was trading 59 points higher from its previous close, at 22,273 levels and the 50-unit Nifty was up 25 points at 6,666 levels.

SBI, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank and Hindalco are among the top heavyweight Sensex gainers at this hour.

Among broader markets, BSE mid-cap index surged 1% in morning deals while small-cap is up 0.7% against Sensex's 0.1% upmove.

(Updated at 1030hrs)
=================================================================================================

Among other stocks that are buzzing at this hour, JP Associates, Unitech, Ashok Leyland and IDFC are among the top traded stocks on the NSE.

Among sectors, barring capital goods and FMCG nearly all sectoral indices continue to trade with gains at this hour. BSE Realty, up 1.1%, led the gains in sectors tracking variuos industrial sectors at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). BSE Bankex and metals are up almost 1% followed by consumer durables and auto.

Shares in Union Bank surged more than 6%, Canara Bank up 4.3%; they remained the top gainers in the BSE bankex.

Advance decline ratio favoured the bulls; 1029 stocks advanced against a decline seen in 518 stocks.

Broader markets outperformed the benchmarks at this hour, BSE small-cap and mid-cap indices were up between 0.4-0.8% against Sensex's 0.2% upmove.

A day earlier the rollover percentage for Nifty futures was lower than the three-month average, rollovers for overall market positions were in line with the average. About 56-57 per cent of Nifty futures positions were rolled over, whereas the overall market rollover was about 71 per cent, according to provisional data. The NSE Nifty closed at 6,641 on Thursday, up 0.6 per cent from its previous close. Analysts are sceptical about the Nifty crossing 6,700 levels.

Globally, China's Shanghai Composite was up 0.2 percent or 6 points at 2,052.18. Hong Kong's Hang Seng surged 1.2 percent or 261 points at 22,024.59. Japan's Nikkei was flat at 14,610.45. Singapore's Straits Times rose 0.51 percent or 16.23 points at 3,178.69. South Korea's Seoul Composite was up 0.15 percent or 3.01 points at 1,980.98. Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted added 0.33 percent or 28.65 points at 8,808.22.

Stocks in U.S. fell on Thursday, erasing most of the S&P 500's year-to-date gain, as banking and technology stocks led the selloff.

The benchmark S&P 500 fell almost 1 percent this week, turned nearly flat for the year.

The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 4.76 points or 0.03%, to end at 16,264.23 and the S&P 500 was down 3.52 points or 0.19, at 1,849.04. The Nasdaq Composite was down 22.346 points or 0.54 percent, to end at 4,151.232.

At the close, the S&P 500 was up just a fraction of a point for the year.

U.S. economy grew at 2.6%, faster than estimated earlier in the fourth quarter, showed data released recently, while new claims for jobless benefits dropped to a near four-month low last week. But contracts to buy previously owned homes fell in February to their lowest level since October 2011.

The United States and the European Union on Wednesday agreed to prepare possibly tougher economic sanctions in response to Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea territory.