Domestic stock markets started Wednesday's session on a strong note tracking gains in Asian peers.
The Sensex rose as much as 256 points to 35,608 in early trade, while the Nifty touched 10,682, up 78 points from the previous close.
Advances in banking, energy and metal stocks led the markets higher.At 9:23 am, the Sensex traded 253 points higher at 35,605 and the Nifty was up 64 points at 10,669.
Top gainers on the Nifty were Indiabulls Housing Finance, Bharat Petroleum, GAIL, Yes Bank and ONGC, trading between 1.5 per cent and 2.6 per cent higher.Equities in other Asian markets registered mild gainsafter US-China trade talks resumed.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.2 per cent.
Japan's Nikkei gained 0.4 per cent.US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that trade talks with China were going well and suggested he was open to pushing off the deadline to complete negotiations, saying March 1 was not a "magical" date.However, investors awaited minutes from the Federal Reserve for clues on policymakers' thinking on interest rates and its balance sheet reduction policy.The Sensex has closed lower for nine sessions in a row, its longest losing streak in nearly eight years.
The Nifty has declined for eightstraight days.(With agency inputs)