At 14:45 hours IST, the benchmark indices extended gains on the back of huge rally in financials, infrastructure and metal stocks. The 50-share NSE Nifty surpassed the 4400 mark while the Sensex was inching towards 15,000 mark. The market breadth also improved a bit; About 647 shares advanced while 569 shares declined on the NSE.

The Nifty rose 71 points, to 4,420 and the Sensex was up 239 points, to 14,898. Among the broader indices, the BSE Midcap was up 0.8% and the Smallcap Index gained 0.35%.About 26 stocks out of 30 Sensex stocks and 43 stocks out of Nifty fifty were in the green.

In the financials space, HDFC surged 6%; SBI, PNB, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank gained 2-3%. In the infrastructure space, NTPC, L&T, BHEL, Power Grid, Reliance Power, Reliance Infrastructure, Tata Power, ABB and Siemens went up 1-3%.

Pharma stocks like Cipla and Ranbaxy Labs shot up 4.5-5%; Sun Pharma gained 0.5%. In the metals space, SAIL, Tata Steel and Jindal Steel were up 1.7-5%.

On the next page - see how Indian markets performed in the last couple of hours