Indian markets surged during the opening hours due to overnight gains in the US and a strong opening of the Asian equity markets.

Realty and banking stocks were leading the upmove after gaining more than 3% each.

The BSE midcap index was ruling 1.78 per cent higher, while the BSE smallcap index was up 1.04 per cent.

The Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex opened at 8,480.74, up 136.99 points or 1.64 per cent from the previous day's close.

At 09:59 a.m., the Sensex gained 136.99 points, while the broad based Nifty was trading higher by 60.55 points, or 2.31%.

The market witnessed 636 progressions as against 170 declinations.

The top movers in the 30-share index included Tata Motors, which gained 4.83%, Reliance Capital grew 3.94%, Mahindra & Mahindra surged 3.62%, Sterlite Industries (India) climbed 3.57%, Infosys Technologies zoomed 3.46% and Reliance Communications was up by 3.40%.

There were no losers at the BSE Sensex.

US stocks closed positively on Thursday, as encouraging remarks from Bank of America's CEO regarding the bank's profitability and gains in bellwether General Electric (GE) helped expand gains for a third straight day.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 239.66 points to 7170.06. The S&P 500 index closed 29 points up at 750.74, whereas the Nasdaq Composite index gained 54 points at 1,426.10.

European shares rose for the third straight session. The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 index added 0.7% to 167.36, bringing gains made since the start of the week to roughly 5%.

Nikkei surged 352.61 points to trade at 7,550.86 and Hang Seng index advanced 465.37 points to trade at 12,466.90.

European stocks came up, as the Swiss central bank reduced its interest rate to close to zero. Carrefour led a rally in retailers. UK`s benchmark index FTSE 100 climbed 18.25 points, or 0.49%, to end at 3,712.06, CAC 40 gained 20.05 points, or 0.75%, to end at 2,694.25 and DAX advanced 42.12 points, or 1.08%, to end at 3,956.22.