Nifty inches towards 5300; midcap, smallcap up 1%

Indian shares maintained early gains quite nicely, rising more than 1% due to buying interest in banks, auto, metals and infrastructure stocks. The broader markets too were on buyers' radar; the Midcap Index was up 1% and Smallcap up 1.4% as about three shares advanced for every share declining on the BSE.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rallied 221 points to 17,418.83 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 67.65 points to 5,283.35.

Globally every market was trading strong after higher than expected additions in US payrolls on Friday. Emerging optimism for European action on the debt crisis too improved the sentiment.

Asian peers like Hang Seng, Nikkei and Kospi gained 2% each while Shanghai went up 0.7%. Straits Times and Taiwan Weighted were up 1% each.

Back home, the Indian rupee appreciated 33 paise to 55.42 against the US dollar. Even the hopes of some reforms in the monsoon parliament session (that will start on Wednesday) too helped the rupee recover.

Country's largest lenders State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank moved up 1-1.7%. Housing finance company HDFC was up over 1%.

Oil & gas producer Reliance Industries and top commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors topped the buying list, rising 4.6% and 3.5%, respectively.

Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro and state-owned power equipment manufacturer BHEL climbed 1.5-2%.

However, shares of TCS, Dr Reddy's Labs and Coal India were down 0.4% each.