Indian equities continued to gain in early trade for the third consecutive session today.

The 30-share index Sensex belled the day at 16,692.66 after making a gain of 26.26 points, where the broad based NSE Nifty started the day on flat note at 5,003.10.

At 9.08 am, the Sensex gained 189.40 points to trade at 16,855.80 with 38 components advancing.

In the meantime, the Nifty stood at 5,058.40, up 55.30 points, with 68 components progressing.

The overall market breadth was positive as it saw 1,096 advancements as against 137 declines.

The top movers were RIL, which gained 19.17 pts, followed by ICICI Bank (up 17 pts), ITC (13.47 pts), HDFC (12.06 pts) and Sterlite Ind (up 11.33 pts).

On the other hand, the major losers comprised Sun Pharma, which dropped 0.37 pts, followed by Tata Power (0.81 pts), RCom (1.24 pts), Hero Honda (1.26 pts) and Maruti (1.41 pts).

The BSE Mid and small caps surged 1.38% and 1.25% respectively.

The Metal index remained the major gainer among the sectoral indices as it surged 379.10 points. The Realty index gained 61.78 points to trade at 3,067.89 followed by the Consumer Durables index, which increased 84.28 points and the Auto index was up by 116.78 points.

Asian stocks gained as higher commodity costs strengthened the viewpoint of earnings for mining firms, while a feebler yen approached Japanese manufacturers of cars and electronics. Japanese benchmark index Nikkei 225 gained 164.67 points to trade at 9,804.39.

US stocks zoomed after China reassured capitalists that it doesn't plan to sell the European debt it holds. The Dow gained 284.54 points to 10,258.99.