The Sensex was trading higher by 80 points, while the Nifty gained 21 points in trade. Other Nifty gainers included Sterlite Industries, ITC, Jindal Steel and State Bank of India.

Technology stocks which have been seeing huge gains in the past few trading sessions lost ground with Infosys, TCS and HCL trading in the red.

PSU banking stocks saw some recovery in trade today with most of the banking names like Canara Bank, Bank of India, Syndicate Bank, Union Bank, Indian Overseas Bank and Punjab National bank trading with gains.

Metal stocks saw some buying interest with Bhushan Steel, JSW Steel, Welspun, Steel Authority of India and Tata Steel among the gainers.

Among pharma stocks, Ranbaxy Laboratories fell another 1 per cent, after the huge drop witnessed on Wednesday, following a poor set of quarterly numbers

Shares of NMDC was trading steady despite reports that the hike in rail freight would hurt the company's margins.

Hindalco was trading higher by 1 per cent even after the company announced a lock-out at its Silvassa plant in Dadra and Nagar Haveli following continuation of workers' strike.

Steel Authority was subdued in trade after the company said it will have to annually bear an additional cost of Rs 300 crore due to the hike in railway freight rates.

Realty stocks saw a sharp bounce in trade today with DB Realty gaining 5 per cent, DLF jumping 1.5 per cent and Unitech gaining 3 per cent.

Meanwhile, Asian markets were trading higher with the Chinese Shanghai Composite, Hong Kong's Hang Sang and the Japanese Nikkei all trading in the green.

Markets are now expected to take cues from the Economic Survey report to be tabled in parliament later today and the Union Budget to be presented on Thursday.

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