Mumbai, March 2 - Aided by a 9.15 percent gain in auto heavyweight Tata Motors, a benchmark index for Indian equities was ruling 239 points higher a couple of hours into trade Tuesday.

At 11.06 a. m. the 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 16,438.45 points, was ruling at 16,669.01 points, 239.46 points or 1.46 percent higher than its previous close at 16,429.55 points.

The scrip of auto heavyweight Tata Motors had rallied 9.34 percent from its previous close to rule at Rs. 777.45 in morning trade after its report Friday that the company had seen rise in sales at its Britain based subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) .

At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty was ruling at 4,991.05 points, against the previous close at 4,922.3 points, a gain of 1.4 percent or 68.75 points.

Broader markets too saw a buying spree with the BSE midcap index ruling 1.81 percent higher and the BSE small cap index 1.83 percent up.

Other Asian markets were, however, trading mixed.

The benchmark Japanese index, Nikkei, was ruling 0.35 percent higher at 10,207.87 points, the South Korean Kospi ended 1.31 percent higher at 1,616.73 points.

However, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was ruling 0.83 percent lower at 20,882.99 points, and the Chinese Shanghai composite index 0.6 percent down at 3,069.28 points. (IANS)