Mumbai, May 26 : A benchmark index for Indian equities markets, which rose smartly in morning trade Thursday, slipped from its day's highs on some profit booking in the afternoon.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) which opened at 17,917.11 points, was ruling at 17,988.98 points, up 141.74 points or 0.79 percent from its previous close at 17,847.24 points.

It had risen to 18,041.39 points in the morning session.

The 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange was also trading higher at 5,388.05 points, up 0.73 percent.

Broader markets too were moderately up with the BSE midcap index 0.34 percent up and the BSE smallcap index trading 0.7 percent higher.

Energy, metal and PSU stocks were among major gainers at this time, while consumer durables scrips fell.

The market breadth was positive with 1,477 stocks advancing, 1,074 on the decline and 141 unchanged.

Among gainers on the Sensex were ONGC, Sterlite Industries, NTPC and RIL, while major losers included M&M, ITC, Infosys and BHEL.

Tracking overnight gains at Wall Street and European markets, Asian markets mostly ended up in the green, with the exception of China.

The Nikkei of the Japanese stock exchange closed 1.48 percent up at 9,562.05 points, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended 0.61 percent up at 22,885.43 points.

The Shanghai Composite index of the Chinese markets shed 0.19 percent to close at 2,736.53 points. (IANS)