Helped by sustained gains in Reliance Industries and Tata Steel, markets are holding on to early gains. Other Asian markets are holding on to gains while Europe has opened firm.

Sensex is trading higher by 95 points at 12818 at 01.10 PM.

Nifty is now trading higher by 28 points at 3706.

Reliance Industries is holding on to gains of 1.5 per cent, providing considerable support to the indices.

VSNL has gained further and is the best performer among index stocks, trading nearly 3 per cent higher. MTNL and Bharti are holding on to gains of 1.5 per cent each.

Tata Steel has gained further after the joint confirmation with Corus about the take over bid for the latter for $8 billion. The stock is now trading more than 2.5 per cent higher. Among other metal stocks, Hindalco has gained over 1.5 per cent.

ABB has gained further ground and is now trading close to 3 per cent higher. BHEL is holding on to gains of close to 1.5 per cent.

Wipro is also sustaining the up trend with gains of close to 2 per cent.

Reliance Energy is the other major gainer, trading nearly 2 per cent higher.

Oil marketing stocks have lost further ground. HPCL is now down nearly 2 per cent and is the worst performer among index stocks. BPCL has slipped more than 1.5 per cent.

Dabur continues to be weak and has lost almost a per cent. ITC is down close to 0.5 per cent.

Bajaj Auto remains weak for the third session and has lost more than 0.5 per cent. Hero Honda is trading with marginal losses.

Satyam, Glaxo, Suzlon and HDFC Bank are trading with modest losses.

Mid-caps and small caps have gained further after the firm opening. The NSE mid-cap index is now trading with gains of close over 1.15 per cent. BSE mid-cap index has gained over 1.2 per cent and the small-cap index is trading with gains of nearly a per cent. Market breadth on the NSE remains positive in early afternoon trades.

Bharat Gear, KLG Systel, Max India and Canfin Homes are locked in the 10 per cent upper circuits.

Suryajyoti Spinning, Ingersol Rand, Sasken Communications, CMC, ITI and Infoemdia India are among the major mid-cap gainers.

Philips, Carbon, Alps Industries, Geometric Software, Softpro, Hanung, Vivimed Labs and Cholamandalam DBS are the major mid-cap losers.