Helped by a strong rally in ONGC, indices are holding on to early gains. Other Asian markets are mixed, having given up part of their early gains, but Europe has opened firm.

Sensex is trading higher by 48 points at 13081 at 01.10 PM.

Nifty is now trading higher by 22 points at 3789.

ONGC is leading the charge today and the stock has rallied more than 3.5 per cent.

Oil marketing stocks are doing well with HPCL adding nearly 2 per cent and BPCL up 1.5 per cent

Siemens is holding on to gains of over 3.5 per cent while L&T has added over 1.5 per cent.

Maruti remains the best performer among autos, helped by good sales volumes for October. The stock is up nearly 2.5 per cent

Dr Reddy, Zee Tele, Bharti and OBC are the other major gainers.

Technology stocks remain weak, led by Satyam which is down almost 2 per cent. Infosys has lost over a per cent while TCS, HCL Tech and Wipro have all lost around 0.5 per cent each.

VSNL remains the worst performer among index stocks with losses of over 2 per cent.

Nalco has slipped in early afternoon trades and is down more than 1.5 per cent

Dabur, Reliance Energy and Jet Airways are the other losers.

Mid-caps and small caps are also holding on to early gains. The NSE mid-cap index is now trading with gains of 0.65 per cent. BSE mid-cap index has gained 0.6 per cent and the small-cap index is trading 0.55 per cent higher. Market breadth on the NSE remains positive in early afternoon trades.

IFB Industries, SKF India, TCI Finance, Sutlej Industries, TVS Electronics, Indian Hume Pipes and Khaitan Limited are all locked in 10 per cent upper circuits.

GTN Industries, RPG Transmission and Adhunik Mettalics are among the major mid-cap gainers.

Panacea Biotech, Apcotex Industries, Saregama, Jaypee Hotels, AP Paper, Ruchi Soya and McDowell are the major mid-cap losers.