Sustained buying in frontline stocks assisted the 30-share-index Sensex to move towards the upward direction.

Secondline stocks continued to outperform frontliners.

The Mid-Cap and the Small-Cap index have also gained 2.84% and 2.50% respectively.

Buying interest was seen across the board. Realty, banks and metal stocks led the gains in early trade. The realty index on the BSE surged 5.05 per cent and the banking and metal indexes rose 4 per cent each. The BSE Consumer durables and IT indexes advanced over 3 per cent each.

Investment analyst R Balakrishnan said, "Given the current liquidity flows, the markets may rally 15-20 per cent more from current levels till the budget."

Mr. V K Doshi, technical analyst & derivative strategist, said, "The Nifty is likely to face resistance at 4,250. In the short-term, Ranbaxy, Peninsula Land and Ultra Tech Cement look attractive."

At 12.49 p. m., the 30-share index Sensex gained 363.01 points to trade at 13,952.24, after hitting a high of 14,001.46 and a low of 13,780.41.

In the meantime, the broad based Nifty stood at 4,225.50, up 108.80 points. It hit a high of 4,234.70 and a low of 4,115.25.

The market breadth continues to be extremely positive - out of 2,691 stocks traded, 2,126 have advanced while 521 have declined.

The top gainers in the 30-share index comprised Reliance Energy, which gained 7.67%, DLF surged 7.03%, Sterlite Industries (India) zoomed 7%, ONGC climbed 5.68%, ICICI Bank increased 5.61% and Reliance Capital soared 5.54%.

On the other hand, the major losers in the Sensex included ACC (1.44%), ITC (1.41%), Bharti Airtel (1.23%), NTPC (1.04%), and Hindustan Unilever (0.35%).

Asian stocks also surged, led by auto manufacturers and mining firms, after US consumer confidence gained the most in 6-years and commodity prices mounted.

Japan's Nikkei surged 127.96 points to trade at 9,438.77, Hang Seng index climbed 925.59 points to trade at 17,917.15 and Shanghai Composite increased 44.35 points to trade at 2,632.93. (1.01 p. m, IST).