The benchmark Sensex, on Monday (April 06), marked its closure on a strong note although profit-booking at higher levels trimmed early sharp gains.

The firm buying action witnessed across frontline stocks assisted Sensex to continue its positive run for the fourth straight session, gaining by another 186.04 points to end at nearly a 5-month peak of 10,534.87.

The broad-based NSE Nifty surged 45.55 points (1.42%) at 3,256.60 after touching an intraday high of 3,303.90 and an intraday low of 3,211.35.

Tokyo  - Tokyo stocks ended Tuesday morning's trading modestly higher on optimism over the domestic economy and a rise in carmakers' shares caused by expectations for a resurgence in global demand.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average inched up 26.52 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 8,884.45.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues was also up 4.49 points, or 0.54 per cent, at 835.46.

On currency markets at 9 am (0000 GMT), the dollar traded at 100.43-48 yen, down from Monday's 5 pm quote of 101.15-18 yen.

New York  - US stocks closed lower Monday, trimming some of last week's gains ahead of a batch of quarterly earnings reports for US companies.

Alcoa Inc, which will start the quarterly round of earnings reports Tuesday night, fell 3.4 per cent. The stock decline ended five straight days of gains amid some small signs that the US economy may be on the road to recovery.

Banking shares slid after a prominent Wall Street analyst warned of more massive losses despite the government's efforts to stabilize the financial sector.

Carrying forth its gains into the fifth week, the Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex was up 186 points on Monday, and closed at 10,534, while the Nifty was up by 45 points to close at 3,256. With the Indian markets consolidating, the index traded between 10,654 and 10,411.

The figures marked the highest level of the benchmark index since 10 November, 2008; thanks to the rising sanguinity about the global economy, and metals and capital goods, and auto stocks showing robust gains.

Hong Kong  - Hong Kong shares climbed more than 3 per cent to a three-month high Monday, pushed up by rising confidence in the US recovery prospects and a strong rebound by banking giant HSBC.

The blue-chip Hang Seng Index rose by 453.35 points or 3.11 per cent to 14,998.04, after rising above the 15,000 points mark earlier in the day. Turnover was 62.1 billion Hong Kong dollars (8 billion US dollars.)