Taking support from firm Chinese markets, the 30-share index BSE Sensex continued to trade on a positive note.

The buying was seen across auto, realty, banking and IT stocks.

Mirroring continued buying in that space, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices surged 1.25% and 1.65% respectively.

All the sectoral indices were in the green. The BSE Auto was up 3.89%. Realty gained 1.98%. IT, Bankex and Teck zoomed more than 1%.

During July 2009, the country's exports stood at $13,623 million, which was 28.40% lower in dollar terms as compared to the level of $19,036 million in July 2008.

Imports during the said period (July 2009) were valued at $19,621 million showing a fall of 37.10% in dollar terms as against the level of imports valued at $31,189 million in July 2008. Today, Sensex opened the day after gaining 24.63 points at 15,691.27 as against its previous closure.

At 12.55 p. m., Sensex gained 234.56 points at 15,901.20 after hitting an intraday high of 15,923.09 and an intraday low of 15,691.27. In the meantime, the broad based Nifty was down by 69.05 points at 4,731.15 after touching an intraday high of 4,735.90 and an intraday low of 4,659.25.

The top gainers' in the 30-share index included Maruti Suzuki India, Tata Motors, RCom, Rel Capital, Mah & Mah and DLF.

On the other hand, the major losers in the Sensex were BHEL and Tata Power.