Global markets staged a strong rally, following good cues from across the globe. Trade optimism after reports that Chinese and US officials would meet in Oct to discuss tariffs pushed US Dow Futures higher.

Asian markets also rallied, following the withdrawal of a controversial extradition bill in Hong Kong. On Wednesday, the Hong Kong markets had rallied a huge 4 per cent in trade, following the development.

The Sensex was trading with gains of 139 points, while the Nifty was up 51 points in trade. Metal and mining stocks along with ONGC was leading gainers in trade. Coal India, Vedanta and Tata Steel were up 3-5 per cent, and were the top gainers from the Nifty.

Banking stocks on the other hand were exhibiting weakness with the likes of HDFC and ICICI Bank losing ground.

Tata Motors was littled changed in trade, after JLR reported numbers from the US. Total JLR US sales was down for the month of August.

Shares in NMDC was down after August 2019 production was placed at 1.41 MT against 1.46 MT.

Maruti continued to decline for as second day in a row. The company has been impacted buy slowing volumes.

Meanwhile, the rupee opened strong at 71.94 to the US dollar.