Benchmarks were trading on a choppy note with a positive bias ahead of March F&O series expiry and meager performance by the worldwide markets.

Real estate, oil & gas and metal frontline stocks were the major gainers.

At 1:45 pm, Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex gained 137.23 points (1.45%) at 9608.27. The index hit an intra-day high of 9648.67 and low of 9430.45.

In the meantime, the broad based Nifty stood at 2966.65, up 27.95 points (0.95%) after touching an intra-day high of 2987.30 and low of 2923.30.

Broader markets remained flat. BSE Midcap Index gained 0.14%, while BSE Smallcap Index was trading down by 0.02%.

Amongst sectoral indices, BSE Realty Index was the top gainer with 2.70% followed by BSE Oil & gas Index gained 2.43 per cent and BSE Metal Index was up by 1.76%.

The major gainer sin the Sensex pack included Tata Power (3.76%), ACC (3.48%), Reliance Industries (3.23%), Jaiprakash Associates (3.12%) and Sterlite Industries (2.87%).

The top losers were NTPC (-2.53%), ONGC (-2.45%), Bharti Airtel (-2.05%), Tata Motors (-1.88%) and Ranbaxy Laboratories (-1.31%).

The overall breadth of the market was negative with 1103 declinations as compared to 1252 advancements.

European markets traded in the negative terrain following weak global peers.

FTSE 100 lost 0.32%, CAC 40 fell 0.13% and DAX dropped 0.62%.