Indian equities, the Sensex and the Nifty, ended the session with a gain of about 0.3 per cent. Market participants were covering up short-positions as the monthly derivatives segment expired today.
At 3.30 pm, the Sensex was up 71.61 points (0.38 per cent) at 18,781.63 and the Nifty was up 22.2 points (0.39 per cent) at 5,713.60.
Auto, capital goods, banking and oil & gas stocks were up, while realty, healthcare, tech and metal sector stocks were down.
Top five Sensex gainers were M&M, Hero MotoCorp, HDFC, Sterlite and GAIL, while the top five losers were Dr. Reddy's, SBI, Tata Motors, Tata Steel and HUL.
European stocks were up as companies including BASF SE and Unilever NV posted results that exceeded analysts’ estimates. US index futures and Asian shares also rose.