The Sensex was trading with gains of 82 points, while the Nifty rallied 18 points in trade. Metal stocks led Nifty gainers in trade with Sesa Sterlite, Jindal Steel and Hindalco among the gainers.

Action once again shifted to infrastructure stocks with Gammon Infra, Gammon India, Hindustan Construction and NCC trading sharply higher.

Mid cap stocks was once again where all the action was with Unitech jumping 2 per cent and Petronet LNG gaining 3 per cent.

PSU Banking stocks once again saw buying interest with notable winners from the space being Union Bank of India, Canara Bank and IDBI Bank.

Shares in public sector oil marketing company, HPCL was higher after reports that the company would buy a stake in Petronet LNG. Texmaco Rail was up 6 per cent despite reporting losses.

Gold jewellery stocks were in the limelight as the central bank has marginally eased the import squeeze on gold. Shares in TBZ were up 20 per cent, Gitanjali Gems was up 13 per cent, Shree Ganesh Jewllery was up 5 per cent and PC Jewellers was up 16 per cent.

Banking stocks were subdued in trade and were little changed over Wednesday's levels. Meanwhile, most of the Asian markets were trading strong as US markets rallied in trade.

GoodReturns.in